Recently, my Foreign Minister Wang Yi has been invited to visit India, during which time he met with Indian Prime Minister Modi, also held talks with Indian Foreign Minister Suzhen, and jointly attended the 24th meeting of the Special Representative for China-India border issues with National Security Advisor Dover.

The visit was fruitful, and the two sides reached a consensus on the resumption of dialogue mechanisms in various fields, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation, and new consensus on border issues.

It is worth noting that during this diplomatic interaction between China and India, the two sides rarely reached a consensus:

Agree to restart border trade through three points: Riplek Pass in Uttarakhand, Shibuzira Pass in Himachal Pradesh and Duila Pass in Sikim.

However, unexpectedly, shortly after Foreign Minister Wang Yi left India, Nepal, another neighbor of China, stood up and opposed it.

It turned out that the Nepal government said on Wednesday thisThe reason for the opposition is that Nepal considers the Ripple Mountains to be part of the country's territory, and on the official map of Nepal, the Ripple Mountains are marked as "an inseparable part of Nepal".

This objection is really surprising. After all, the Riplek Pass has a special position in Sino-Indian border trade. China and India have conducted trade through this Pass for many years.

Regarding Nepal's "protest", Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jayiswar also responded quickly, indicating that the opposition was invalid.

He stressed that China-India¡¯s border trade through Ripley Mountains began in 1954 and lasted for decades, and that any unilateral human claims for territorial expansion are unacceptable, while expressing India¡¯s willingness to resolve border issues with Nepal through dialogue and diplomatic means.

The core of Nepal's "protest" this time is estimated to revolve around the ownership of Riplek Pass, which in Nepal's view is part of its own territory.

Moreover, there are many historic disputes between Nepal and India over the separation of borders, and the Ripley Mountains are just one of them.

The two sides had frictions over similar territorial issues before. This time, through Sino-Indian trade, Nepal also wants to make its position clear and does not want to make concessions on territorial sovereignty.

Further down, the location of the Riplek Pass is too special. It is located at the junction of China, India, and Nepal, and its strategic and economic value is not low.

As a landlocked country, Nepal is subject to many geographical restrictions and has long been economically dependent on India. In recent years, Nepal has been trying to broaden cooperation channels, and its cooperation with China is also deepening.

Nepal estimates fears that the resumption of China-India border trade, the resumption of trade in the Ripley Mountains, will further strengthen India¡¯s economic dominance in the region and make itself more passive economically and geopolitically.

You know, in South Asia, India has always regarded itself as the "boss" and tried to maintain its dominance over the foreign policies and economic choices of neighboring countries.

India regards Nepal as its sphere of influence and is very sensitive to Nepal's cooperation with other countries, especially China.

Nepal¡¯s deepening cooperation with China has made India cautious, whether China helped Nepal reduce its oil dependence in the energy sector or cooperated on infrastructure construction.

This time, Nepal's opposition to the resumption of border trade between China and India is largely a challenge to its dominance in regional affairs in India's view.

It is worth mentioning that for India, resuming border trade is of great significance. According to analysts, the economy of the mountainous areas of northeastern India has been severely damaged by the interruption of Sino-Indian border trade, and there is a serious backlog of local specialties such as wool and herbs.

Restoring border trade is crucial to the economic development of northeastern India, so India will naturally not easily abandon this plan because of Nepal's opposition.