Xi calls for China-Nepal community of common destiny

BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting Nepali Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli on Monday, calling on both governments to carry forward the traditional friendship and expand practical cooperation to make the two nations a "community of common destiny."

Xi said China and Nepal are close neighbors that enjoy permanent friendship and comprehensive cooperation, stressing the significance of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence they uphold. The principles are mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence.

"As developing countries, China and Nepal are facing the historic missions of reform and development," Xi said, hoping the two sides will join China's Belt and Road initiative and 13th five-year plan with Nepal's reconstruction and development plan.

Xi called for more efforts to speed up the establishment of a China-Nepal free trade area, and boost cooperation on connectivity, energy, post-earthquake reconstruction and industrial capacity.

The two sides should elevate tourism, educational and cultural cooperation, and increase youth and media exchanges to further cement the friendship between the two nations, Xi said.

The president called on the two sides to use such new platforms as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to expand cooperation.

As to the trilateral China-Nepal-India relationship, Xi said he hopes Nepal will benefit from development in China and India, adding that it is in the common interests of the two big neighbors that Nepal enjoys stability and development.

"Nepal can be a bridge between China and India," Xi said.

Calling China a great friend and friendly neighbor of Nepal, Oli lauded China's adherence to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and the neighborhood diplomacy featuring amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. He expressed gratitude for China's support to Nepal's post-earthquake reconstruction.

Nepal firmly sticks to the one-China policy and will not allow any force to conduct activities that will impair China's interests, Oli said.

Nepal will actively participate in the Belt and Road construction and looks forward to closer cooperation with China on trade, finance, connectivity, infrastructure and tourism as well as in international affairs, said the Nepali prime minister.