MCC deal: Nepali communist parties currently under Chinese pressure

Sources told Khabarhub that the communist parties are under pressure from China to not endorse the MCC at any cost.

PM Deuba, perhaps, is putting all efforts to ratify it and even if it is delayed, he would try to communicate to the US that he has been trying to move the MCC forward since he has got a loud and clear message from the US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu during his Nepal visit who was quoted as saying by Khabarhub, “The US will not compel Nepal to ratify the MCC. If Nepal does not take the grant, we will spend the money in some other country.”

Sources told the news portal that Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” has asked PM Deuba not to take a decision on the issue before December 28 – the date when the Maoist Centre’s national conference will conclude.

Prior to flying back to the United States, Lu said he suggested Nepal “took a consultative and democratic approach” to endorse it.

Khabarhub recently published a story on the basis of a highly confidential document prepared by Nepal’s security authorities stating that China is “playing a role” in souring Nepal’s relations with third countries, particularly with the United States, and is currently actively propagating, lobbying and spending against the MCC.

Interestingly, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist–Leninist (CPN-UML), which was in favor of endorsing the MCC while in the government, has changed its position saying the ball is in the court of the coalition government, and that UML, as the main opposition, will make its stance clear later.

A Nepali political leader, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Khabarhub, “China does not want MCC to be endorsed at any cost. Therefore, it is piling pressure on Nepal’s left parties to stand against MCC.”