Top American official visiting Nepal next week amid growing US-China rivalry in South Asia

Kathmandu: Close on the heels of Victoria Nuland, the Undersecretary of State, the United States is sending to Nepal, Samantha Power, a high ranking official, who had earlier served as Washington’s permanent representative at the UN during the Obama administration years.

Power, the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will be visiting Kathmandu in early February, the USAID said in a press statement.

Power will arrive in Kathmandu on February 7, officials said. Power holds a Cabinet rank in the US order of precedence. She is the first USAID Administrator to be a member of the National Security Council, where she is mandated to ensure that development plays a critical role in America’s responses to a range of economic, humanitarian, and geopolitical issues.

Both Nuland and Power are visiting Kathmandu at a time when Nepal has elected a new government , led by Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal or Prachanda, known to be sympathetic to China.

Prior to joining the Biden-Harris Administration, Power, known as a human rights crusader and a regime-change icon,  was the Anna Lindh Professor of the Practice of Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and the William D. Zabel Professor of Practice in Human Rights at Harvard Law School. From 2013 to 2017, Power served in the Obama-Biden Administration as the 28th US Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Power will be the senior-most foreign dignitary to visit Kathmandu after the formation of the new government.

“While there, Administrator Power will meet with civil society leaders, community groups, students, businesses, and government officials to discuss Nepal’s efforts and achievements in becoming a more democratic, prosperous, inclusive, and resilient country,” read the press statement issued by the USAID headquarters on Wednesday.

During the visit, the USAID Administrator Power will underscore the United States’ enduring, more than 75-year partnership with the government and people of Nepal, according to the statement.

She will highlight USAID’s commitment to increasing our engagement with Nepal and its new government.

“Administrator Power will announce new efforts to build momentum to strengthen democratic gains in federalism, social inclusion, civil society, and media freedom,” the USAID added.

During the upcoming visit of Samantha Power to Kathmandu, the two countries are expected to discuss the implementation of several projects being implemented by the USAID in partnership with the Nepali government.

Earlier, Nuland paid a visit to Nepal on Sunday and Monday this week during which she held high-level engagements including with PM Prachanda and Foreign Minister Bimala Rai Paudyal.

“One after another visits from the United States to Nepal indicate that the Biden administration is willing to engage with the new communist-dominated government in Nepal and ensure that the US geo-strategic interests are not compromised amid growing Chinese influence in Nepal,” a foreign policy observer told India Narrative on Wednesday.

The United States has built up pressure on Nepal to execute several USAID projects at a time when the China-initiated Belt and Road Initiative framework (BRI) is becoming a non-starter.

The US-China rivalry was visible in Nepal last year amid heated political debates over the MCC Nepal Compact which is an integral part of the US Indo Pacific Strategy that aims to contain China.

Despite China’s public objections, Nepal’s parliament ratified the US—initiated MCC Nepal Compact. A few days before the passage of the US grant program, China and the US also engaged in a war of words accusing each other of violating Nepal’s sovereign decision.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the US of employing coercive diplomacy against Nepal while the US countered that it was China who was behind the inordinate delay in passing the US MCC Nepal Compact.

Immediately after the passage of the MCC Nepal Compact, the US also approved $659 million aid to Nepal and it is being executed by the USAID.

(Santosh Ghimire is India Narrative’s Nepal Correspondent based in Kathmandu)