The Chinese state-run newspaper People’s Daily carried a short article with four photographs of a freight train waiting at a station in Lanzhou, before it left with 86 cargo containers for a journey to Nepal. The international freight train will travel within Chinese territory until the current railhead of Xigaze (Shigatse) and then travel by road through Gyirong (Geelong) border post. The goods will take 10 days to reach Kathmandu, where they will, presumably, be greeted under the glare of high-voltage publicity. Among Indian policymakers, the news about the freight train has been greeted largely with skepticism. Even as some Indian members of parliament and media persons have been ringing alarm bells about China getting a share in the current Nepali polity under the Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli government, the power corridors in the country have been comparatively unconcerned – jaded at an apparent replay of the “China” card.According to Indian observers, the freight train is another manifestation of China “playing ball” with the Oli government’s need to show that its Chinese overture is bearing fruit. According to sources, this rail and road combination was already in use and not a new development to facilitate Nepal-China transit trade. “There have always been items coming through this route in small volumes,” a senior government official said.
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