Nepal's Ambassador to China Mahesh Kumar Maskey
About the two sessions
Xinhuanet: Your Excellency, China has entered the annual "two sessions" time. The "two sessions" are an important window to grasp the pulse of China's development. As the most direct link between your country and China, what issues will you pay most attention to in the "two sessions"? why?
Ambassador: In 2016, the two sessions of China will deliberate on many important issues. In the context of China's economic slowdown, how to achieve the full construction of a well-off society in 2020 through the 13th Five-Year Plan is an arduous task facing China. Implementing precise and effective poverty alleviation and advancing anti-corruption are the top priorities. China's determination to protect the environment is firm. Only through green, sustainable, and innovation-driven development can a balance between economic development and environmental protection be achieved. In addition, the Belt and Road Initiative, which connects the world's 4 billion people, is also a topic of concern to me.
About the "13th Five-Year Plan"
Xinhuanet: This year is the first year of China's 13th Five-Year Plan. The Fifth Plenary Session of the Eighteenth Central Committee put forward five development concepts, of which innovation ranks first. International public opinion believes that innovation will become the new engine of China's economic growth under the new normal. In your opinion, where should China's innovation and development work in the next five years?
Ambassador: The current global economy is shrinking and the demand for Chinese products is declining. China needs to adopt new strategies to increase production capacity. At the same time, China needs to protect and improve the ecological environment and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor. In order to achieve the above goals, China is consciously slowing down its economic development and entering a "new normal" conducive to environmental protection and economic development.
I believe that China will promote economic development through innovative ways while effectively solving pollution problems. In the next few decades, China's most likely priority is to implement a new type of urbanization, that is, to shift its focus to remote and economically underdeveloped areas, and to achieve harmonious development between economy and nature under the leadership of communities.
About "One Belt One Road"
Xinhuanet: In 2013, President Xi Jinping put forward the “One Belt One Road” initiative. The initiative not only stays in the concept, but also actually has been put in practice: the establishment of the US$40 billion Silk Road Fund, the “shift and speed up” of the China-Europe Railway Express, and China-Brazil , China-Mongolia-Russia, Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridors stepped up construction, the AIIB successfully opened, and so on. In your opinion, what gains has your country achieved so far? What are the challenges? And this year, what kind of cooperation will Nepal and China carry out within the framework of the “Belt and Road” initiative?
Ambassador: The “Belt and Road” initiative is a wonderful idea put forward by President Xi Jinping. It combines ancient and modern times, covers more than 60 countries and 4 billion people, and promotes the establishment of a new type of inter-regional interconnection. As a close neighbor of China, Nepal will benefit a lot from this initiative.
Nepal and China are connected by the Himalayas, special terrain and fragile ecosystems. The “Belt and Road” initiative will help establish connectivity between the two countries in this challenging zone through a Nepal-China joint venture. China and Nepal rely on the interconnection of expressways between their main border points, which deserves the most attention. Within four years, China’s railways will likely be built near the Nepal border. Nepal also hopes to build railways in its territory to connect with China as soon as possible, because this will provide a fast track to promote economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries. These projects can all be carried out with the support of the "One Belt One Road" initiative.
The China-Nigeria-India Economic Corridor is also under consideration. Driven by the "One Belt One Road" initiative, this project will connect China with South Asia. If the China-Nepal-India Economic Corridor is connected with the China-Myanmar-Bangladesh-India Economic Corridor, an inner circular route of the modern “Silk Road” can be formed, starting in China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and passing through India, Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region , And then back to Yunnan and Sichuan. The countries along the inner ring of the "Silk Road" will have huge opportunities to achieve common prosperity through mutually beneficial economic and cultural cooperation.
About the Chinese economy
Xinhuanet: China's economy has now entered the "new normal", and China's economy is also undergoing structural reforms, especially supply-side reforms. At present, some foreign media are hyping up the argument about the hard landing of China's economy. What do you think for this? What do you think of China's economic growth prospects in 2016?
Ambassador: In my opinion, China is already consciously adjusting its overheated economy and protecting the environment. At the same time, China needs to adjust some structural issues to ensure stable economic development under the new normal. In this adjustment process, of course, there will be many suspicions and speculations about China's economic hard landing and asset shrinking. Such a view is contradictory to reality. The fact is that the slowdown in economic growth is a natural result of economic development adjustments. China is unlikely to fall into the "middle income trap" because China's market economy has some distinct characteristics of its own.
First of all, under the macro-control of the Chinese government, China's market economy is different from the laissez-faire model advocated by neoliberalism. The development of China's private enterprises also presupposes that public-owned enterprises dominate. Second, in the development process of the past three decades, China has always adhered to the principle of self-reliance during the process of opening up to foreign capital. Third, the size of China's stock market is still only a small percentage compared to the overall size of China's economy, so it is unlikely that a "bubble burst" crisis will occur.
I believe that this is a turning point for China. While trying to maintain its economic development momentum at a reasonable level, China is also protecting the environment. In view of the characteristics mentioned above, the probability of China's economic success is far greater than some experts predict.
About the Chinese Dream
Xinhuanet: Since the first interpretation of the "Chinese Dream" in 2012, President Xi has repeatedly interpreted the "Asia-Pacific Dream", "African Dream", "Latin American Dream" and "World Dream" on various international occasions. Development concept. What do you think of this concept? In what ways do you think China can cooperate with your country for mutual benefit and share development opportunities?
Ambassador: The Chinese Dream is a great dream of the Chinese nation's peaceful rise in the national jungle of the world. Rise is a prerequisite for China to assume its historical responsibility of achieving world peace through common prosperity and win-win cooperation. The Chinese dream is also the dream of collective prosperity that drives individual prosperity, as vividly explained by President Xi: "If a country is strong, the people will be strong, and if a country is rich, the people will become rich."
These ideas have had a wide response around the world. The dream of China's rise and common prosperity echoes Nepal's vision of achieving comprehensive development and modernization on the premise of preserving cultural richness. Encouraged by these dreams, cultural cooperation and green sustainable development cooperation between China and Nepal will greatly strengthen bilateral relations.
About China-Nepal relations
Xinhuanet: Your Excellency, how do you comment on the development of Sino-Nepal relations in recent years? In what areas will China-Nepal relations develop in the future?
Ambassador: Former Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited Nepal in 2012. China and Nepal signed 8 bilateral cooperation documents. The bilateral relations between China and Nepal have taken a huge step. At the same time, the two sides also announced 2012 as the "China-Nepal Friendly Exchange Year". China hosted the first Nepal Cultural Festival and 7,787 Nepalese products were exported to China with zero tariffs. Nepal joined the "One Belt One Road" initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping and has since become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. China is the country that has contributed the most to Nepal's foreign direct investment. China has also given the highest support to Nepal's post-disaster reconstruction and recovery. After the promulgation of Nepal's new constitution, Nepal and China signed a memorandum of understanding on long-term trade in petroleum products. In addition, Nepal also exempts Chinese tourists from visa fees. These are all recent breakthroughs in the development of Sino-Nepal relations.
I think that in the near future, the main development breakthrough in Sino-Nepal relations will be the signing of a transit treaty, the establishment of special trade and economic zones, cross-border energy cooperation, infrastructure construction, and the interconnection of highways and railways.
Xinhuanet: This year, what are the major exchange activities and cooperation projects worthy of attention between China and Nepal, can you please introduce to us?
Ambassador: In 2016, high-level exchanges of visits between China and Nigeria will continue, and cooperation in many areas will be implemented during these visits. After the promulgation of the new constitution in Nepal, the current main driving force for development is to achieve environmentally friendly economic development. Cooperation with China can provide huge opportunities for Nepal’s economic prosperity. Nepal is bound to attract many Chinese investors in hydropower, wind power, solar energy, medicinal plants, organic food, handicrafts, mountain ecology, biodiversity, tourism and cultural heritage, and infrastructure development. In 2016, we will uphold the spirit of win-win cooperation and focus on the development of these cooperation projects between the two parties.
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