China welcomes merger of two communist parties in Nepal

KATHMANDU, May 19: China has welcomed the merger of Nepal’s two communist parties—CPN-UML , headed by Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and CPN (Maoist Center), led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, saying it supports the country’s choices to develop its social system.

The two largest communist parties finally announced their unification to form Nepal Communist Party through a press conference, after eight months of efforts, on Thursday, coinciding the 25th Memorial Day of late communist leaders Madan Bhandari and Jibraj Ashrit. The unification also makes the new party, the country’s Largest Leftist party.

The merger also means the Nepal Communist Party now has 174 out of 275 seats in the Assembly which is more than adequate to grant the country a political stability.

“As a good neighbor and friend to Nepal, China supports Nepal’s independent choice for the social system and development path that suits its own national conditions and we welcome the merging of the two parties,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing on Saturday.

“We also wish that they can achieve national development goals at an early date. China stands ready to work with Nepal to continue deepening mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of the two countries and peoples,” he added.

As per the terms of agreement of the unification of the two parties, Oli and Prachanda will lead the unified party and a nine-member secretariat, and enjoy equal power.

The guiding principle of the party is of Marxist and Leninist doctrine. There are 43 standing committee members (25 from UML and 18 from MC), 441 central committee members (241 from UML and 200 from MC) in the newly formed party. The electoral symbol of the party is the sun.