Amid suggestions that relations between Nepal and China had been eroding, Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said on Wednesday that the government is sensitive towards its ties with China. 

“We want to maintain best ever ties with both India and China based on geopolitical realities and opportunities that are in front of us,” Mahat said during a press meet at the ministry on Wednesday. 

Reacting to criticism from a section of the media over the government’s poor handling of recent visits of Chinese leader Liu Qibao and Mongolian Foreign Minister Tsend Munkh-Orgil in Kathmandu, Mahat said, “It was a mere coincidence, and China has not shared its uneasiness with Nepal over the matter.” 

Mahat said the Mongolian minister requested for a visit during their meeting in New York on September 21. Munkh-Orgil arrived in Nepal after a visit to India.

The Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu had informed the Foreign Ministry about Liu visit on November 25, and later on December 9, the Chinese ambassador to Nepal held talks with foreign secretary about the agenda of the visit. “There is no clash of timing, issue and agenda over the two visits as we were regular in tough with Chinese Embassy officials,” Mahat clarified.