Xi’s Nepal visit not cancelled: China

“You said the visit was cancelled. This not appropriate to say it”, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing here, responding to reports of cancellation of Xi’s visit.

“China and Nepal are in close communication on high-level exchanges. China attaches importance to the new Nepalese government and we would like to promote new development of bilateral relations with Nepal”, Hua said.

Pressed further for details, she said: “I don’t think it was an appropriate way to say it is cancelled because two sides have high-level exchanges.” “The two sides are always in communication on high-level exchanges, so we cannot say it is cancelled or not as it is not defined yet”, she said.

“We are in close communication with Nepal on the relevant issue and we will release information in due course”, she added.

Xi was due to visit Nepal next month. But reports from Kathmandu said the visit has been cancelled as China is unhappy with the new government led by Prachanda, who is set to visit India this week to mend ties between the two countries, after his predecessor KP Shama Oli followed a pro-China policy.