Chief of Army Staff General Ashokraj Sigdel is embarking on a week-long visit to China on Sunday. However, neither side has made a formal announcement of the visit. General Sigdel is scheduled to return on September 19.

This will be General Sigdel’s first visit to China since taking charge of the Nepali Army last year.

General Sigdel is expected to participate in the 13th edition of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which will be held from September 15 to 17 at the Beijing International Convention Centre. Last year, he was invited to the 12th edition of the forum but cancelled his participation due to the Gen Z movement in Nepal.

General Sigdel will meet senior Chinese military officials, an army official confirmed.

According to the organisers, senior defence officials and military leaders, heads of international and regional organisations, as well as renowned experts and scholars, will gather for the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum. The forum remains a key platform for international security and defence dialogue.

Nepal has regularly sent senior defence officials to the Xiangshan Forum. Ishwar Pokhrel, the erstwhile deputy prime minister and defence minister, attended the eighth forum in 2018, while Prabhuram Sharma, then Chief of Army Staff, attended the 10th forum in 2023.

The theme of this year’s forum is “Build Consensus on Stability, Advance Security Governance Together.” The forum will feature four plenary sessions covering international order and strategic stability; localised conflicts, predicaments and pathways to resolution; risks and challenges to security and stability in the Asia-Pacific; and the role and vision of developing countries.

It will also feature eight parallel sessions, including discussions on major-power relations and strategic stability, Asian approaches to addressing security challenges, sea-lane security and maritime security governance, risks and regulation of military applications of emerging technologies, and trends in outer-space security governance.

According to military sources, General Sigdel is also expected to address the forum.

China has been promoting the forum since 2006 as an alternative to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. In December 2025, General Sigdel visited New Delhi on an official trip, during which he was conferred the honorary rank of General of the Indian Army.

After being appointed Chief of Army Staff in September 2025, General Sigdel was invited to join the 11th edition of the forum. However, he could not attend as he had just assumed office.

During his upcoming visit, General Sigdel and Chinese military leaders and officials are expected to discuss future military cooperation, including preparations for the next round of the joint military exercise between Nepal and China. Nepal and China have been conducting the joint military exercise under the banner of “Sagarmatha Friendship”. Its sixth edition is due to take place in China this year.

Sagarmatha Friendship is a bilateral military exercise between the Nepal Army (NA) and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), first launched in April 2017.

Its primary objectives are to enhance interoperability, operational readiness, counter-terrorism capabilities and disaster-response skills while facilitating professional exchanges between the two armies. Each successive edition has gradually expanded in scope, incorporating high-altitude operations, disaster response and professional officer exchanges, while maintaining a core emphasis on counter-terrorism.

The number of participating countries has expanded from just over 10 to more than 100, and it has become a renowned high-level security and defence forum both at home and abroad, the Chinese Ministry of National Defence writes on its website.