Published by: World Tibet Network News, Thursday, Apr 18, 1996

KATHMANDU. April 14, 1996, (The Straits Times) -- Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will leave for China on a week-long official visit beginning on Thursday to seek economic co-operation and to strengthen ties between the two neighbours.

After visiting India in February, Mr Deuba was scheduled to visit Beijing on March 20, but was forced to postpone his trip due to a political crisis in Nepal when his government faced a no-confidence motion.

It has been a practice of Nepalese prime ministers to visit India first and then travel to China to show that it is friendly towards both nations, underlining its policy of equidistance between the rival Asian powers.

Nepal "cannot have enmity with either of them or side with one and annoy the other," said political science professor Mohammed Syed Habibulla. "So the non-alignment policy is and has been the best policy for Nepal," he said.

During his trip, the Nepalese Premier will meet Chinese Premier Li Peng and Chinese President Jiang Zemin. He is expected to seek China's economic assistance in developing hydro-power.

China has complained of growing anti-Beijing activism in Nepal by Tibetan refugees based here, but Nepal has sought to reassure China, saying it would "never let anyone use her soil against a friendly neighbour".

Over 35,000 Tibetans living in Kathmandu demonstrate occasionally against the suppression of Tibet by the Chinese authorities. Nepal's government has always opposed the demonstrations officially on the grounds that Tibet is part of China. -- AFP.