Nepal does not want to jeopardize relations with China

By P.K. Balachandran

Colombo, June 21: Fearing that the US State Partnership Programme (SPP) is a trap to involve it in an anti-China military alliance, the Sher Bahadur Deuba government in Nepal has rejected the programme.

The Deuba government (like predecessor governments in 2015, 2017 and 2019) was initially impressed with the SPP for its disaster mitigation content, but it had to reject it eventually, because the mood in Nepal is unambiguously against foreign programs which smack of a military alliance.

Nepalese governments have generally not wanted any trans-national agreements which could jeopardize their delicately balanced relationship between India and the US on the on hand and China on the other.

Flush with success in arm-twisting the Deuba government to get the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact ratified by the Nepalese parliament in February, the US made bold moves to give a military dimension to US-Nepal relations and make Nepal part of the Indo-Pacific Alliance (IPS) an adjunct of QUAD.

But faced with strident and widespread opposition to any such project, even the pro-US government of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had to swear that he would not sign the SPP pact. The rejection is a setback to US efforts to enlarge its strategic imprint in South Asia bordering China.

The SPP is a bilateral programme which is outwardly peaceful in intent. But it is perceived to have deep-set military objectives with consequences not only for Nepal’s internal security, but also for relations with its two big neighbours, China and India. The impact on Sino-Nepal relations will be catastrophic if the SPP leads to stronger US-Nepal military ties. The Indian army’s exclusive and unique relationship with the Nepalese army will have got diluted, a prospect the conservative Indian top brass cannot reconcile with.

Be that as it may, it is a fact that in October 2015, applied to join the SPP as it wanted US humanitarian assistance to meet the challenges posed by the earthquake. Disaster-prone Nepal requested for it in 2017 and 2019 also.

At that time, the SPP had not got public attention. This was because there was no requirement for the SPP to get parliament’s ratification unlike in the case of the MCC. What brought the SPP under public scrutiny was a flurry of high-level US diplomatic activity in a short span of time after the ratification of the MCC on February 27. Frenetic US activity made observers wonder if the US had something up its sleeve.

High-Level US visits, Tibetan Question

Uzra Zeya, US Under Secretary of State for civilian security, democracy, and human rights, and US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues made a highly publicized visit to Nepal in May. She created waves by meeting Tibetan refugees, thereby touching a raw nerve in China and creating tremors in the corridors of power in Kathmandu. She took up the refugees’ undocumented status since 1995 and urged documentation. To encourage Nepal towards this end, Zeya offered a developmental sop of over US$ 600 million. But her demand is unlikely to be accepted by Nepal because China wants Nepal to send the refugees back to Tibet. Like Zeya, the US Ambassador, Randy Berry, met Tibetan refugees and went to upper Mustang to visit Tibetan monasteries.

The Commanding General of the US Army Pacific, Gen. Charles A. Flynn, was the next to visit Kathmandu adding grist to the anti-SPP mill. He had apparently urged Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and General Prabhu Ram Sharma, Chief of Staff of the Nepal Army, to put Nepal in the State Partnership Program. Nepalese feared that all these moves would have a negative impact on Nepal’s balanced foreign relations, marked by equidistance from India, US and China.

Worried about Nepal’s coming under more pressure from the US, the Chinese Ambassador, Hou Yanqi, called on Nepal’s Home Minister ostensibly to get confirmation of Nepal’s continued adherence to the “One China” policy. But sources said that the SPP was the envoy’s main concern. Nepal’s condemnation of Russia for its aggression in Ukraine had made Beijing suspicious about growing links between the Deuba and the Biden regimes.

Alleged Agreement Highlighting Military Content

Meanwhile, a document purporting to be an “agreement” between Nepal and the US on the SPP, emerged and went viral in the media. It smacked of a strong military content, including joint US-Nepal army training and also sops in the form of Fellowships for Nepalese officers in US academies. It said that the US National Guard and US contractors, related vehicles and light aircraft operated by or for the United States, may use agreed facilities and areas for training, transit, support and related activities, refueling, temporary maintenance of vehicles and aircraft, accommodation of personnel, their dependents, communications, staging, deploying of forces and material.

The US Embassy promptly stated that the document was a fake. The Nepalese government too said that there has never been an agreement. The government’s line was that while the SPP had indicated its readiness to admit Nepal, there has been no follow-up.

In Defense of SPP

This is what is said in defense of the SPP officially: “The State Partnership Program (SPP) is an exchange program between an American State’s National Guard and a partner foreign country. The US National Guard domestically supports US first responders in dealing with natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, and wildfires.”

“In the event of natural and other disasters, ranging from hurricanes to earthquakes, floods, and fires, the United States seeks to share the best practices and capabilities of our National Guards — our first-line responders. SPP can be an effective means of facilitating this type of cooperation.”

The SPP has existed for over 25 years and includes partnerships with over 90 countries.

US Defense Department’s Role

Critics say that while disaster mitigation is fine, the rub lies elsewhere: The SPP is administered by the National Guard Bureau, guided by State Department foreign policy goals, and executed by the state Adjutants General in support of the Department of Defense policy goals.

“Through SPP, the National Guard conducts military-to-military engagements in support of defense security goals but also leverages whole-of-society relationships and capabilities to facilitate broader interagency and corollary engagements spanning military, government, economic and social spheres,” a US government website says.

In other words, the SPP is a multi-purpose vehicle to advance wide-ranging US political and strategic objectives under the overall cloak of humanitarian engagement.

Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand, said on behalf of the government, that the government strongly believes that Nepal’s territory should not be allowed to be used against any friendly nation. Airing his views in a meeting of the House of Representatives, the Home Minister said: “Nepal is not connected with the SPP. No decision has been made towards this end. It has not imagined proceeding towards that end either.”

Comparing SPP with the MCC, Khand said: “We consider and recognize the MCC as a pure development project and not a military project. It was endorsed by all.”

It is learnt that India too was not in support of the SPP as it feels that the pushy US will unsettle the traditional special relationship between the Indian and Nepalese armies.

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is to visit the US in mid-July. But the Agreement which was expected to be signed in Washington would not be signed. Deuba has to keep in mind that he has to face tough parliamentary elections in November this year.