India-nepal Relations: History And Reality

Nepal is a country located in the north of the South AsianSub-Continent, and lies between China and India. This extremelyimportant strategic geography location makes Nepal a significant placefor the two big countries, and the relationships between Nepal and Indiahave been more close and complex. The Nepali-Indian relationship fitsin with the games paradigm between big and small nations. This thesisintends to analyze the various factors affecting the relations betweenthe two countries and predict the future of their relations reasonablybased on the history and reality, and also aims at discussing what shouldChina do to develop relations with small neighboring nations in the caseof China-Nepal relationships.This thesis holds that the Nepali-Indian relationship can be dividedinto five periods: the period before India’s independence, the periodfrom India’s independence to The third India-Pakistan war in1971; theperiod from The third India-Pakistan war to the end of the cold war in1991; the period from the end of the cold war to the September11incident’s broke-out; the period from the September11incident’sbroke-out till now. After the independent India inherited the Britishcolonists’ special interests in Nepal, they have gradually built up somekind of “special relationship”. But with the awakening of Nepal’sdomestic nationalism, their relationship gradually formed a pattern of“control and anti-control”. Geopolitical factors, national securityawareness and domestic politics play important roles during thedevelopment of the Nepali-Indian relationship. In the21stcentury, thediplomatic policy of India and Nepal are being more pragmatic and healthy,but there still exist many problems regarding the border division, thewater resources and so on. Still, the Nepali-Indian relationshipsenlighten China a lot. In handling relations with small neighboringnations, China should adhere to the Five Principles of PeacefulCoexistence and oppose hegemonic policy. At the same time, China shouldfocus on the overall situation and implement multilateral benefit.