"Can't Replace Father With Mother": Nepal Minister On China Or India Query

You can't tell your father that you'll replace him with your mother or vice versa, Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal told NDTV, underscoring the importance of both India and China to the small Himalayan nation, refusing to pick sides between the two South Asian Goliaths. 

"We are very emotional people, but in foreign policy, I think we need to look at it from a rational side, and again, what I would like to say is as two important neighbours, we have a wonderful relationship that we would like to maintain with both India and China. But we do not want to supplement one with the other. I would not want to tell my father that I'll replace you with the mother or the mother with the father. These are very unique relationships that Nepal has and will continue to maintain that," the Minister asserted, while speaking at NDTV World's 'Anviksha' India-Nepal Dialogue in Kathmandu on Thursday.

While answering a question on "balanced diplomacy", the Minister underlined that his country's relationship dynamics are based on "national interest".

"I often like to think of relationships from the perspective of our relationship as human beings with our family, right? We do have a balanced relationship with our siblings or our parents. Each relationship is unique, and they have their own unique merit, and we have to look at these relationships in those unique terms from history, civilization, engagement. It is something that I'm striving towards as a foreign policy, as foreign minister. My job is to think about work towards strengthening Nepal's national interest, so our relationship dynamics are based on Nepal's national interest rather than anything else," he said.

#NDTVWorldAnviksha | "Would want to maintain good ties with both the countries": Nepal Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal (@shisir) on relations with China and India #NDTVAnviksha #IdeasAcrossBorders #IndiaNepalDialogue | @rahulkanwal | @VishnuNDTV pic.twitter.com/2TserCQgFr

— NDTV (@ndtv) August 27, 2026

The Minister said he wants to disabuse the world of the notion that his country is "captured by our northern neighbour", which is China.

"Oftentimes, I don't know but our friends in India like to somehow feel and that's the media narrative I see coming from the south, is that somehow Nepal has been almost captured by our northern neighbour. Again, we have a wonderful relationship with China and we'd like to continue to maintain that relationship. Again, that relationship also has the civilizational dynamics with Nepal and hundreds of years of history of trade and economic cooperation between the two," the Minister said.

The Minister stated that if the "Chinese economic presence has increased", he would like to see the same for India.

"Two-thirds of Nepal's entire trade is with India, two-thirds," he emphasised, adding, "There's one single country that Nepal trades with, and that's only India."

The minister played down the hoopla around Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative or BRI, saying the country has got zero returns in the last 10 years. 

"Nepal signed a framework agreement in 2017 and then last year's implementation agreement, almost 10 years. Do you know how much money Nepal got out of BRI? $0 for BRA projects in the last 10 years," he said.

Asked what is his message to Indian companies who are looking to step up ties with Nepal, the Minister said Kathmandu is "open for business".

"To Indian companies and the private sector I want to say we're open for business. The country wants investment, and we want to work with you and we will make it easy for you to invest and do business in Nepal," he said, listing out energy, tourism, and technology as priority sectors.

The Minister said there's already a framework agreement between Nepal and India to export 10,000 megawatts of electricity.

"We've seen almost a billion dollars export of tech services export out of Nepal. So technology is definitely another area. Infrastructure and connectivity both air and road networks - investment in these sectors is also something we are seeking at this point," he said.