The MCC debate, Nepali politics and intensifying Sino-US rivalry in South Asia

On 27 February 2022, the Nepal parliament ratified the Millennium Challenge Corporation–Nepal (MCC–Nepal) compact, opposed by none of the main political parties, though sizeable protests continued outside parliament. Due to its geographic location between India and China, Nepal’s participation in the MCC has gone from being a ‘development’ issue to being seen as part of America’s attempts to curtail the rise of China. Nepal’s political elite, therefore, were tasked with securing Nepal’s own interests through the tangle and avoid becoming pawns in the larger geopolitical game in South Asia. The excerpt below from analyst Amish Raj Mulmi’s recent book, All Roads Lead North (published 2021), presents an insight into this interplay of the domestic and foreign-policy imperatives in Nepal’s politics to illuminate the issue.