The dragon charms Nepal

While China cannot be criticised for bagging a project to help develop Buddha's birthplace in Nepal, the motive to assist has surely got to do with more than just religion. The three billion dollar investment scheme in Lumbini is part of an attempt by Beijing to increase its footprints in the neighbouring Himalayan nation. And assisting China in its expansionist designs is of course the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists). Party leader and chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, popularly known as ‘Prachanda’ signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Asia Pacific Exchange Cooperation Foundation, a Hong Kong-based Chinese NGO, to rebuild Lumbini as a world-class peace city that would attract tourists and pilgrims from all over the globe. 

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