Nepal to skip Nobel ceremony under Chinese pressure

KATHMANDU - Under growing pressure by its giant neighbour China that continues to denounce the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiabo, the Himalayan republic of Nepal has become the 20th country to decide against attending the presentation ceremony in Oslo Friday.

The caretaker government of Nepal, under mounting pressure both at home and the international community over its failure to demobilise the guerrilla army of the opposition Maoist party, has directed its ambassador to Norway and the US, Suresh Chalise, not to attend the ceremony that China regards as a slap on its face, the Republica daily reported Wednesday.

The directive was issued after the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu last month asked Nepal to skip the event, the daily said, quoting unnamed sources.

China has stepped up a diplomatic blitzkrieg in Nepal to ratchet up its already considerable influence on the tiny republic and Kathmandu is anxious not to antagonise the northern giant.

Nepal’s capitulation comes at a time when China is also pressing Kathmandu to sign two revised bilateral treaties.

Besides a revised peace and friendship treaty that would replace the pact signed in 1960, Beijing is also asking Nepal to sign a new cultural cooperation agreement that will upgrade the earlier one inked in 1964 and revised in 1999.

China also sent its Culture Minister Cai Wu to Kathmandu on a three-day visit from Sunday to present the revised draft of the cultural cooperation treaty and press for enhanced cooperation between the two countries.

Nepal’s southern neighbour India, however, has said it would attend the Oslo ceremony.

There were no immediate comments from Nepal’s foreign ministry or the major political parties.

The opposition Maoist party, that keeps its diplomatic guns trained on India, accusing New Delhi of interfering in Nepal’s internal matters, also remained silent on the Chinese call.

Nepal, a major destination for Buddhist pilgrims, shut down the office of exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama in Kathmandu due to Chinese pressure, and excludes the Nobel laureate from all the major Buddhist conferences it hosts.

Besides China and now Nepal, Afghanistan, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sudan, Tunisia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Vietnam are the other countries that will not attend the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony.

China jailed the recipient, Liu, for 11 years for writing essays and co-authoring a manifesto, Charter 08, urging political reform, protection of human rights and an independent judiciary.

A fuming Beijing is trying to upstage the Nobel ceremony by founding its own peace prize, the Confucius Peace Prize, to be awarded on Thursday.