A delegation of the CPN-UML led by Vice Chairman Bishnu Prasad Poudel left for China on Monday.

The delegation will participate in the 'Economic Cooperation & Cultural Exchange' programme to be held in Kunming of Yunnan Province, China, according to Bishnu Rijal, a Central Committee member and deputy chief of the central publicity department of the UML.

Sources told the Post that in Kunming, the Poudel-led delegation will also meet Song Tao, currently serving as the head of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party.

The visit comes just ahead of the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi to Nepal.

Wang is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu this Friday.

The communist delegation’s trip to the north also comes amid speculations of an alliance between the UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre), something Beijing has always favoured.

Back in 2018, Poudel had played a crucial role in the unification of the UML and the Maoist Centre to form the Nepal Communist Party (NCP).

Before the Nepal Communist Party was invalidated in 2021, Poudel was serving as the general secretary.

The delegation includes party Standing Committee member Kashinath Adhikari, chairman of the Accounts Commission and former vice chairman of the National Planning Commission Pushpa Raj Kandel and Central Committee Member and Karnali State Assembly Member Meena Singh Rakhal.

The delegation is scheduled to return home on March 30.

Since regular flights to China have not been resumed yet the delegation is flying in a cargo flight of Himalayan Airlines.

“It’s a cargo flight," said Deo Chandra Lal Karna, spokesperson for the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal. "This is a special arrangement made with the coordination of Foreign Affairs Ministry to carry VVIPs and officials of the diplomatic community between Nepal and China."

China has still restricted regular passenger and passenger chartered flights.