Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi on Thursday met with Nepal Communist Party chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal as she continues her marathon meetings with the ruling party leaders since the party has plunged into a fresh round of crisis.

An aide to Dahal, a former prime minister, confirmed the Chinese ambassador’s meeting with him at his residence in Khumaltar but stopped short of providing details.

According to sources, Hou reached Dahal’s residence in Khumaltar around 9 this morning and held “one-on-one” talks for about 50 minutes.

Over the past days, Hou has met with President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, two senior leaders of the ruling party and former prime ministers Madhav Kumar Nepal Jhalanath Khanal and some government ministers.

The meetings come at a time when the ruling party has seen deep rifts, with a faction led by Dahal and Nepal pressing Oli to resign both as party chair and prime minister.

The crisis until last week had reached a tipping point, with Oli even signalling that he could split the party if pressure continued to mount on him to resign.

Hou had made similar rounds to ruling party leaders’ residences back in May as well when the Nepal Communist Party was in a deep trouble. Meeting with Oli, Dahal, Nepal and other senior party leaders, Hou had then advised party unity.

The Chinese embassy in Kathmandu maintained that the embassy and the ambassador keep good relations with the government, political parties, think tanks and people from all walks of life in Nepal and that they always exchange views on issues of common concerns at convenient times.

When the Chinese ambassador reached Dahal's residence on Thursday morning, Agriculture Minister Ghanshyam Bhusal and Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Yogesh Bhattarai were also in Khumaltar.

Hou and Dahal held one-on-one talks after the two ministers left.

According to sources, the meeting dwelt on disputes in the ruling party.

After the Dahal faction, along with 30 0f the 44 Standing Committee members, upped the ante against Oli, demanding that he step down both as party chair and prime minister, Oli on July 2 prorogued the House session, in an indication that he could split the party. By proroguing the House session, Oli also ensured that he does not have to face a vote of no confidence.

Two days later, Oli briefed his ministers that the rival faction was hatching plots not only to oust him but also to impeach the President.

Over the past week, Oli and Dahal have held six meetings. They, however, have failed to reach a deal.