Secret: Why did Nepal suddenly turn against India and turn to China in an all-round way?

Nepal is located at the southern foot of the Himalayas, facing Tibet across the mountain in the north; East, west and south are surrounded by India. Area147,000 square kilometers, population over 26 million. Topographically, the country is a typical small mountainous country from north to south, followed by mountains, valleys and hills and plains and grasslands.

Nepal seems to be a strategic buffer zone between China and India.

Although it is adjacent to China and India at the same time, the existence of the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau forms a solid geographical barrier, while Nepal is located at the southern foot of the Himalayas and connected with the North India Plain, so it naturally belongs to a part of South Asia in terms of geographical attributes. Since it is South Asia, India's influence is unstoppable. In view of the disproportionate size and strength gap between Nepal and India, there is no reason for Nepal to become an independent country.

In fact, in ancient times, Nepal was indeed a part of Indian civilization. Buddha Sakyamuni was born in Nepal. But belonging to India in the civilized system does not mean that Nepal also belongs to India politically. The divisiveness of ancient Indian civilization made it difficult to form a unified centralized pattern. Even the local core area can't be unified, and the marginal mountainous areas like Nepal naturally won't listen to the orders of the Indian headquarters.

Tibetan Buddhism prevails in northern Nepal.

On the contrary, although Nepal is mostly barren hills, it is closely connected with the rich Ganges Plain, so people living in this barren land naturally regard looting the Ganges Plain as a magic weapon to get rich, and thus develop a brave national character. Later, the world-famous Gurkha cavalry in Britain was composed of Nepalese (Gurkha was one of the representatives of ancient Nepal).

With the arrival of industrial civilization, the situation has gradually changed. Personal military courage is no longer the guarantee of military superiority; Hot weapons have become a magic weapon to win in the battlefield. Hot weapons are built on the basis of industry, and the lowland plain rich in water resources is the basic condition for the development of mechanized large-scale industry. In this case, the geographical strength of the northern plains of India has been greatly improved, which has formed an irreversible geographical advantage for other parts of the South Asian subcontinent. Advanced industrial civilization has also given India the capital to integrate marginal and backward areas.

Changes in the geographical pattern make it difficult for Nepal to remain independent again. Fortunately, Nepal has other conditions to rely on: the independence of geographical conditions. Nepal is a mountainous landform, which is completely different from the Ganges Plain. Although the role of mountains in maintaining geographical independence has been greatly weakened under the conditions of modern civilization, it still exists to some extent.

Nepalese girl performance program.

Of course, these two internal factors alone are not enough to keep Nepal independent. As India got rid of British colonial rule, its national chauvinism

Ethnically, Nepal is adjacent to Tibet, so the aborigines belong to the yellow race of Sino-Tibetan language family; Although Indian immigrants of Aryan race have been pouring in for thousands of years, they mainly live in the southern plains and northern mountainous areas, and the yellow race is still the majority. The existence of a large number of yellow people makes Nepal and India maintain certain racial differences.

Socialist ideological trend is rampant day by day, trying to seek the dominance of the South Asian subcontinent. In this case, Nepal inevitably becomes India's backyard, and both internal affairs and foreign affairs are controlled by India. As a sovereign country, Nepal is certainly unwilling to accept this vassal status. However, due to its special geographical location, it had to be dominated by Indians-until the emergence of China.

Historically, the relationship between Nepal and China has been closer.

In fact, China and Nepal have been neighbors since the Yuan Dynasty incorporated Tibet into its territory. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army also made two large-scale expeditions to Gurkha, which became one of the "peerless martial arts" of Emperor Qianlong. However, limited by the development level of the farming era, the Central Plains dynasty's rule over Tibet was extremely fragile, and it would be extremely difficult to cross the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Himalayas again. The anticlimactic nature of the two symbols of Gurkha proved that even at the highest stage of the development of farming civilization, China was unable to exert influence on South Asia. Therefore, this kind of neighbor relationship is only nominal at best, and it has almost no influence on Nepal's internal affairs and diplomacy.

It was not until the founding of New China that the situation gradually changed.

At this time, mankind has entered the stage of modern civilization. With the development of industry and the progress of traffic conditions, China has brought the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau under direct management for the first time. It is even possible to cross the Himalayas and project geographical influence to South Asia. The Sino-Indian border war has become a turning point of Nepal's "pro-China". In the Sino-Indian War, India fought the Indian border guards with the elite main force, and the result was disastrous. Although geographical restrictions forced China to withdraw from southern Tibet after winning on the battlefield. However, the military victory still makes all countries in the world sit up and take notice.

Nepal also found an opportunity to get rid of Indian control from China's victory, and Nepal began to get closer and closer to China. Under the condition of modern civilization, the geo-isolation function of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has weakened, and China has the ability to exert influence on South Asia. In this case, Nepal's proper pro-China can effectively hedge the pressure from India.

With your wishes, China-Nepal relations have rapidly warmed up, which is quickly reflected in reality: taking advantage of India's fiasco and political turmoil, the China-Nepal Highway broke ground in July 1963 and was announced to be completed in June 1967.

China-Nepal railway plan

The completion of the China-Nepal Highway means that China has gained a modern passage to South Asia, and its influence on Nepal and even South Asia has greatly increased.

Of course, the geographical pattern determines that China can't have the attempt and ability to control Nepal-which is why Nepal will confidently cooperate with China. However, the completion of the China-Nepal strategic corridor has given Nepal a bargaining chip when it faces Indian oppression again.

Soon, 1969, Nepal asked India to withdraw the Indian military delegation and Indian military personnel stationed at the army headquarters in Kathmandu and the northern border post since 1953-this was completely unimaginable before the completion of the China-Nepal Highway.

China has continuously strengthened its actual control over Tibet.

Of course, compared with the close geographical ties between Nepal and India, the role of a highway is limited after all, and it is impossible to completely reverse the pattern of Nepal being clamped down by India. Economically, this performance is more obvious. Angered India immediately launched economic sanctions-1970, Indonesia's trade and transit treaty expired, but India refused to renew it. In the following years, economic sanctions became an effective means for India to restrict Nepal.

As an inland mountainous country, Nepal's external traffic must pass through China and India. Although China is far more powerful than India, it is bordered by the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is the most marginal, with the lowest economic value and the least developed transportation. This restriction determines that the role of China-Nepal Highway is more political and military. Specifically, the role of China-Nepal Highway in Nepal is very limited. Economic constraints, coupled with the fact that the China-Nepal Highway is only a passage, can not be compared with the natural geographical ties between Indonesia, so Nepal is still unable to get rid of India's control.

But with the development of the times, the situation has gradually changed. With the progress of science and technology and the enhancement of China's national strength, there is the possibility of further development of China-Nepal relations. If the demonstration China-Nepal Railway is put into practice, Nepal's real independence will become possible.

Once completed, it will have a far-reaching impact on Nepal:

Sino-Nepalese Highway

First, he will further expand China's political and military influence in South Asia. Although it is impossible for Nepal to allow China's military forces to enter, as long as this channel exists, Nepal will be more emboldened in the political game with India-if India dares to push it too far, Nepal can turn to China for help. In this case, India will naturally board the ship, and Nepal's political independence will be more secure.

Economically, the completion of the China-Nepal Railway will greatly change Nepal's dependence on India. Compared with highways, railways have higher transportation efficiency, lower logistics costs and are less restricted by natural conditions. Now, China's economic strength is far from that of the 1960s.

the?Qinghai-Xizang Railway

Based on these two factors. The economic value of this new China-Nepal strategic corridor will be much higher than the original highway: First, some high-value natural resources in Nepal can be transported to the interior of China by railway; Secondly, the number of tourists from China coming with the railway will also increase significantly compared with the past (in 2065,438+04, the number of tourists from China to Nepal has exceeded 6,543,800+,and the smooth flow of the railway will further double the number). For Nepal, a small landlocked country with a per capita GDP of only $700, tourists from China have a very obvious boost to the economy. These increasingly close bilateral economic activities mean that India's economic and trade monopoly on Nepal will be further broken.

Of course, the existence of the roof of the world determines that neither the railway nor the highway can make China-Nepal contact reach the height between Nepal and India. But they can still greatly improve Nepal's vassal status to a certain extent. Considering that China's national strength is far stronger than India's, this can not only make up for the limitations caused by the geographical alienation in economic exchanges between China and Nepal (although the geographical relationship between China and Nepal is not as good as India's, China's economic energy is much stronger than India's), but also determine China's ability to provide Nepal with political support beyond geographical restrictions.

Taking all factors into consideration, as long as China can maintain its huge scale advantage over India, its influence on Nepal may reach the level close to India-in other words, China and India may form a balance of power in the region. Once this balance of power is formed, Nepal's own role will be highlighted, and its political attitude will determine the direction and ownership of the country (when India is the dominant family, Nepal is unable to decide its own destiny).

As a buffer zone between China and India, Nepal is in an awkward situation.

Of course, Nepal can't be one-sided if it doesn't want to be overwhelmed by geopolitical conflicts. On the premise of neutrality, it is in Nepal's best interest to help the weak and overcome the strong in the region and maintain the balance of power.

As Nepal was originally a South Asian country, geographical restrictions made it impossible for China to control it. It is the best result that Nepal can be transformed from a vassal of India into a strategic buffer zone between China and India, and China is certainly happy with it.

But while the iron is hot, you need to be hard. If India's large-scale industrialization fails to achieve results, the national strength gap between India and China will continue to widen. The gap is so great that the balance of power between China and India in Nepal is inevitable. At that time, even if India is dissatisfied, it will only be helpless. Nepal's long-term efforts to establish a neutral and peaceful country can also be completed.