Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Chen Song, verbally sparred with a Nepalese Editor over his claim that the actual interest rate for a loan given by a Chinese Bank to the Pokhra Airport was much higher than previously reported.
Song retorted on X in an angry post and wrote “Worst lies that I have ever seen, it is public information yet you dare lie about it.” In a different post, Chen demanded an apology from journalist Gajendra Budhatoki and also from whoever the people you represent.”
On May 27, 2024, Budhatoki posted that he had the signed document of the 215.96 million loan agreement for the Pokhara International Airport which shows the interest rate offered by the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM Bank) as five percent, despite public reports of it being two percent.
The Pokhara International Airport (PIA) first envisioned in 1975 was finally completed and inaugurated on January 1, 2023, after a 50 year wait for the second most populous city of Nepal. The project was made possible due to the 215.96 million USD from the EXIM bank of China. Opened to much fanfare, the airport has become emblematic of another Beijing’s white elephant development projects saddling the local partner with high debt. There have been no international routes linked with the airport for more than a year after it opened.
Another controversy surrounding the airport is whether the it is part of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the one trillion projects of the century envisioned after Chinese President Xi Jinping to develop two transport routes for connecting China to other regions of the world.
Navita Srikant, a geopolitical analyst and an India-Nepal relations observer said when the international airport was opened on January 1, 2023, the Chinese ambassador called it the “flagship project of the China-Nepal BRI cooperation.”
“He reiterated a few months later after the successful landing of an international flight. Last summer, the Nepalese foreign minister NP Saud denied the Chinese assertions and assured in his Parliamentary address that no project of the BRI has been implemented thus far,” Srikant said. He also added “This is an image loss for China, they have been promoting the BRI for so long, but their project in Nepal did not get the tag,”
The perceived loss of image due to the difficulties faced by the project could be attributed to Chinese Ambassador public defensiveness regarding the Pokhara Airport explained Shivam Shekhawat, a junior fellow of Observer Research Foundation (ORF). Speaking to an Indian media agency, Shekhawat said that the airport failing to achieve the kind of traffic that was envisioned is something that matters for Chinese public diplomacy in Nepal.
In recent months, the Nepalese government has been trying to convert the loan for Pokhara Airport into a grant given that the project has not achieved its goals. “During the recent nine-day trip of Nepal foreign minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha to China, discussions included negotiations to convert a portion of loan to Pokhara Airport as a grant. From 2026, Nepal will have to repay the loan, including the interests.”
This is not the first time when Song has pushed the boundaries of acceptable actions by a diplomat in a foreign country. At a public event in September 2023, Song asserted that India’s policy towards Nepal was not friendly while adding that New Delhi’s ties are not so beneficial to the country, according to media exports.
“This Twitter spat and the use of undiplomatic language hints at a certain BRI related anxiety of China in Nepal. However, there is sense that that Chinese Ambassadors have crossed habitual diplomatic norms in Nepal. Even previously, the statement on India-Nepal trade crossed the line way too far,” Srikant told an Indian media agency.
This defensiveness however is not proportionate to the response made by the ambassadors in a public verbal spat. No country would be okay with an ambassador attempting to intimidate journalists,” added Shekhawat. In 2020, the then Chinese ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqui interfered in the affairs of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) and attempted to keep the party united during the political split at that time.
