An expert associated with a Chinese think tank who visited Nepal recently said the possibility of Xi’s visit will be stronger if the new constitution is promulgated early.

“The high-level visit could be more likely after the Constituent Assembly of Nepal completes its sole task of writing the new constitution,” Hu Shisheng, director at the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies of the China Institutes of Contemporary Inter-national Relations (CICIR), told the Post. He said that a meaningful end of the constitutional tussle would pave the way for bilateral visits at the highest level. Nepal’s role will be crucial to make Xi’s visit a reality, he added.

Hu believes that the possibility of such visits would be high with the formation of a stable government once the new constitution is achieved. “However, this neither means that China would like to exert pressure on Nepal’s political process nor that China competes with India for its influence in Nepal,” he added.

Hu recently visited Nepal along with the CICIR team led by its Vice-president Prof Yang Mingjie. The five-member delegation met Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and UCPN (Maoist) chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Hu told the Post that several significant agreements may be signed during the high-level visit and that such agreements could be implemented only by a stable government.

A number of crucial deals were signed while Xi visited India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives in September. The agreement with India on $20 billion investment in infrastructure over three years has been marked as historic.

Another Chinese expert on Nepal, Lan Jianxue—associate research fellow at China Institute of International Studies—said the Asian giant is willing to see Nepal’s constitutional process progress smoothly and political parties reach consensus on the disputed issues.

Nepal’s Ambassador to China Mahesh Maskey said there was no official information yet on such crucial visit. He said that China’s wish to see a stable government in Nepal is only natural.