Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi arrived in Kathmandu on Friday afternoon on a three-day visit to Nepal.

Wang’s plane landed at Tribhuvan International Airport at around 4:45 pm from New Delhi.

This is the first-high level delegation, comprising 25 members, from the north since Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba assumed office in July last year.

According to sources, no official engagements are scheduled for Friday.

Wang is visiting Nepal at the invitation of Foreign Minister Narayan Khadka.

The Chinese foreign minister’s visit to Nepal comes on the heels of ratification of the Millenium Challenge Corporation, a $500 million American grant, which Beijing had expressed reservations about.

Top government sources have told the Post that during Wang’s stay, at least 10 different agreements are likely to be signed between Nepal and China, including construction of the Ratmate-Rasuwagadhi-Kerung Transmission Line, an agreement on technical scheme of Trans- Himalaya railway under the Chinese grant and technical assistance and implementation of the $450 million (Rs56 billion) Chinese aid announced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Nepal visit in 2019. China will also increase the annual grant for Nepal from Rs 13 to 15 billion which will be announced during the visit.

Nepal is the last stop of Wang’s South Asia tour since March 21, starting from Pakistan where he attended the 48th Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers’ conference. On Thursday, Wang made an unannounced visit to Kabul on his way to India.

The Chinese minister arrived in Delhi late in the evening on Thursday, without any formal announcement about the visit from either side.

Just ahead of his visit to Delhi, Wang was under fire over his statement at the OIC conference where he said China “shares the same hope” as the OIC on Kashmir. India has been fighting an armed insurgency in Kashmir for decades and the OIC has long advocated Kashmiris’ “inalienable right to self-determination”.

India took umbrage at the statement and in a rare move called out Wang.

India reacted—and even took the name—saying it rejects the uncalled reference to India by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“Matters related to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir are entirely the internal affairs of India. Other countries including China have no locus standi to comment. They should note that India refrains from public judgement of their internal issues,” the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The first official announcement of Wang’s visit to India was made by Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar via a tweet at 11:55am. This is the first high-level visit from China to India in the last two years since the clash in Galwan in June 2020 and the subsequent border standoff in eastern Ladakh. In Delhi, Wang held talks with India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Jainshankar.

During his stay in Kathmandu, Wang will call on President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.

Delegation level talks will be held between Khadka and Wang on Saturday.

The Chinese minister is also scheduled to meet with CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli and CPN (Maoist Centre) chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal.