Kathmandu 4th of September : The top Chinese legislator and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China Li Zhanshu is scheduled to visit Nepal from September 12 to 15in the period of September 12, the Nepali Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday.Li arrives at the request of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nepal Agni Prasad Sapkota.
Li Li, who is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s close ally is the third highest ranking person of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the most important decision-making body of China and is the third highest ranking after the president Xi as well as the Premier Li Keqiang.
The visit takes place just prior to the start of the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in October which is expected to grant another extension of term to Chinese President Xi and also general as well as provincial elections in Nepal on the 20th of November.
The Chinese leadership has been encouraging Nepali communist leadership, in particular CPN-UML as well as the CPN (Maoist Centre) to form an alliance to run the elections.
Speaker Sapkota and Li will hold bilateral delegation discussions on September 12 according to the ministry.
Sapkota will also host a dinner in honor of Li as well as the other participants of his delegation in the evening.
This is the third most visited country from the north in the last year since the creation of the Sher Bahadur Deuba’s government in Kathmandu.
In March, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who also serves as the State Councilor of China, visited Kathmandu and had discussions on a broad variety of bilateral concerns with the highest political leaders.
In the following month in July Foreign Department Chief of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Liu Jianchao, arrived in Kathmandu and had talks with all the major political players including the communist party’s leaders.
In August the Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka visited Qingdao, China and met with Wang, his Chinese counterpart Wang.Wang and they discussed a broad range of bilateral issues, including recent tensions between China and the US over the Taiwan Strait.
During his time in Nepal, Li will make courtesy calls to the President Bidya Devi Bhandari and the Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.He will also meet with Chairperson of the National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina and Minister of Foreign Affairs Narayan Khadka, according to the ministry.
In addition, Li will also meet K P Sharma Oli, former Chairman and Prime Minister of CPN-UML, as well as Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda,” former Premier Minister and Chairman of CPN-Maoist Center on the spectrum of bilateral matters, the ministry said.
anil giri/svnanil giri/svn
