Under secretary for political affairs Wendy Sherman’s visit to Nepal this week is a praiseworthy sign of American concern about affairs in that nation wedged between Tibet and India.
Nepal has a lot to contend with—outstanding issues under a peace agreement that in 2006 ended a ten-year insurgency and Chinese efforts to upend Nepal’s role as a haven for refugees from Tibet that China occupied in the 1950s. Under formidable Chinese pressure, Nepal’s admirable stance on Tibetan refugees has been called into question. An estimated 20,000-plus Tibetan refugees live in Nepal, while as many as a few thousand a year transit Nepal on their way to India. Beijing tried to force the repatriation of a party of Tibetan refugees last fall. That effort was turned back that effort thanks largely to the efforts of a leading Nepali NGO and diplomacy by the U.S. and other countries. Nepali police, who receive aid and training from China, have also harassed Tibetans living in Nepal.
