Off the Record 127: How well do we know China?

Issue 127 • 02 February 2024

It’s February 2, 2024, and you’re reading Off the Record.

I’m Pranaya Rana and in this newsletter, we’ll stop, take a deep breath, and dive into one singular issue that defined the past week. 

You can read Off the Record for free by visiting this link and subscribing to receive this newsletter in your inbox every Friday.ﾠAll posts are free but you can pledge a subscription if you like my work.

---

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening from Kathmandu reeling from yet another spate of high-profile arrests. This time, it’s not politicians but businessmen. More on that below. But before all of that, let me update you on the status of the newsletter, as has become customary in the last few editions.

State of the newsletter

As most of you constant readers must be well aware, I am not much of a self-promoter. I try to let my work speak for itself so I’ve been hesitant to share this newsletter on social media and ask for more subscriptions. (There’s also the fact that Twitter under Elon Musk actively suppresses any Substack links and Twitter is where I have the widest reach.) But I placed my reservations aside and took the plunge this week. And wouldn’t you know it? Over 197 new subscribers in just two days! As I write this, we are currently at 2,826 subscribers, just about 200 more to go before I reach 3,000! I am flabbergasted and a little humbled. Welcome to all new readers and I hope you will all become constant readers. Please do not hesitate to reply to this email with your thoughts, comments, criticisms, and even just encouragement. I would love to hear from you all.

I should also mention the four new folks who’ve become paid subscribers. Shout out to Satish Gurung, Chahana Sigdel, Tsering Choden, and Sandesh Ghimire. Thank you to all of you. I’ve also been informed that some of my readers in Nepal would also be interested in supporting this newsletter with a paid subscription. Substack only allows for debit card payments so for those in Nepal who would like to support me, here are the localized subscription plans in Nepali rupees:

Rs 1,000 = 1 month

Rs 10,000 = 1 year

And here is my QR code:

Please do mention your name and the email through which you’ve subscribed to the newsletter so I can update your due subscriptions. If there are any issues, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

With that bit of housekeeping out of the way, let’s get down to business.

Arun Chaudhary arrested!

You know I had to use an exclamation point for that headline. Arun Chaudhary is the brother of billionaire and (elected) Member of Parliament Binod Chaudhary, and also the chairman and managing director of CG Holdings. Arun has been implicated in the illegal transfer of 10 ropanis of public land that once belonged to the government-owned Bansabari Leather and Shoe Factory to CG (Chaudhary Group) Chandbagh Residency Private Limited. The Bansbari factory was established in the 60s with support from the Chinese government and was quite well-known for producing cheap quality shoes. But of course, mismanagement and politicization led to falling profits and in 1992, under the Nepali Congress’ liberalization scheme, the company was sold to private interests, namely Champion Shoe Factory, owned by the Chaudharys. Predictably, the private company scuttled the factory and sold its parts, establishing the Chandbagh School where the factory once stood. It was at this time that 10 ropanis of land were illegally transferred into private hands for paisa on the rupee.

All of these details were unearthed by Deepa Dahal of Ukaalo, the news website that you might remember from last week’s newsletter. Kudos to Deepa and Ukaalo for their hard work. It must feel very satisfying to see your investigative journalism bear fruit. You can read the original report here (in Nepali).

On February 1, alongside Arun Chaudhary, Ajit Narayan Singh Thapa, former executive chairman of the factory, and Sanjay Thakur, chairman of CG Chandbagh School, were also arrested by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) on charges of fraud and forgery. They, however, have yet to be formally charged as it is established practice in Nepal to take suspects into police custody while a case is built against them. However, it should be noted that the police don’t just arrest people willy-nilly. They need sufficient cause to hold the accused in custody and this cause must be presented before the court, which decides how long the accused can be held. In this case, the Kathmandu District Court has allowed the police to hold the three accused in custody for four days.

But don’t worry, high-profile individuals like these don’t spend much time in jail. Arun Chaudhary and Ajit Thapa were admitted to Chirayu Hospital due to hypertension. This too is established practice for individuals like these, who tend to spend very little time in public jails. They instead choose the comfort of an expensive private hospital that functions more like a hotel.

Already, the business community is crying foul that one of their own was arrested. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Confederation of Nepalese Industries (CNI) both issued statements condemning the arrest. A report in The Kathmandu Post had this hilarious quote from Ganesh Karki, chairman of the Independent Power Producers’ Association Nepal: “I was really scared when I learnt about Arun Chaudary’s arrest. How can the private sector work in an environment of fear?” This isn’t repression, Mr Karki. It’s the consequences of your actions finally coming back to bite you in the ass.

This arrest — after the spate of high-profile arrests in the fake Bhutanese refugee scam — should be another feather in Home Minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s caps but it remains to be seen how the case will proceed and if the Nepali Congress, the senior partner in the current coalition government, will be able to lobby on behalf of Arun Chaudhary. His brother Binod is after all an elected MP from the Congress party and I’m sure a significant donor to the party. 

USMLE cancels Nepali test results

The United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE), on Wednesday, January 31, issued a statement stating that it had “identified a pattern of anomalous exam performance associated with Nepal, which challenges the validity of test results for a group of examinees” and that a large number of test results had been invalidated and that they would be required to take other validation exams. The USMLE is the exam that all medical students are required to take before they are allowed to practice in the US. Every year, thousands of Nepali medical graduates take the USMLE in hopes of landing a job and a visa to the US. According to the USMLE, an unusually high number of test takers from Nepal were found to have scored over 270 (out of 300) on a notoriously difficult exam, placing them in the 99th percentile. The USMLE believes that these test takers had prior access to certain questions, either through other test takers or through compromised proctors. Such questions are sold in large numbers over social media like Facebook or Telegram. Here’s a good Twitter thread on how they might have cheated and how they got caught.

This is a serious charge since it reflects poorly on doctors in the US of Nepali origin who took the exam honestly and passed. It also tarnishes the reputation of Nepal’s health sector if doctors are so willing to cheat on their exams. This is not surprising, though, given how our entire education system is built around teaching to the test where booklets of past questions are handed out to students. One of the most popular booklets is called ‘Old is Gold’. Cheating is rampant in school and college-level examinations and thesis writers for Master’s and PhDs are easily available for just a few thousand rupees. No wonder then that even medical students see nothing wrong with cheating or gaining an advantage on the USMLE.

Government officials who are foreign residents

On Monday, January 30, Monika Bhattarai Adhikari, vice-chair of the Social Welfare Council, resigned voluntarily after getting wind that the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority was preparing to take action against her for holding permanent residency in a foreign country while also holding a governmental position in Nepal. Article 291 of the constitution prohibits anyone with foreign residency from occupying a public service post. Adhikari reportedly held a permanent residency permit or green card from the United States and to fulfill the requirements of the green card, would visit the US every six months under the excuse of seeking medical treatment.

What’s worse is that Adhikari was appointed to the Social Welfare Council, which oversees all not-for-profit organizations in the country, due to nepotism. Her mother-in-law Uma Regmi was Minister for Women, Children, and Senior Citizens in 2021-2022 in Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s prime ministership, and thus appointed her daughter-in-law to the Council, which was under her ministry. Even before Adhikari was appointed, a complaint had already been registered at the CIAA and the ministry itself, alleging that Adhikari held foreign permanent residency. Still, in clear contravention of the constitution, Adhikari was appointed and worked for two years as vice-chair. It was only when the CIAA was planning to file a case against her that she decided to resign.

Numerous civil servants are alleged to hold foreign residency permits. Many foreign residents argue that Nepal should allow Nepalis like them to hold government office, just like how many Non-Resident Nepalis argue that Nepal should allow dual citizenship. This is an issue that requires a whole lot of thought and cannot be rushed into. At a time when the entire country is emptying out, perhaps it is a good idea to allow this. But on the flip side, given the venality with which our politicians and even civil servants have engaged in corruption, this might just allow them even more leeway in selling out the country. I don’t know, I’m not convinced either way on this.

Of man and monkey

Rural Nepal is currently beset by a simian scourge as monkeys continue to wreak havoc across the country’s fields and orchards. From putting up scarecrows to warding off the monkeys with catapults and sound guns, farmers have tried everything to protect their crops. But monkeys are smart and they quickly figure out that the scarecrows are harmless and farmers aren’t the best shots. The problem has become so pervasive that the issue has landed before the federal parliament where Arzu Rana Deuba, chair of the parliament’s Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources Committee, has been consistently advocating on behalf of farmers.

Elected representatives appear dumbfounded on how to deal with the issue. On January 30, Tuesday, Ward 19 of Pokhara Municipality even issued a notice directing all citizens to cut down trees on their property to prevent monkeys from taking shelter. This hamfisted approach to the monkey menace drew much criticism as cutting down trees will certainly not help and instead, is only bound to cause more issues. The directive was duly withdrawn. Now, members of the Agriculture, Cooperatives, and Natural Resources Committee, along with 10 veterinarians and 5 forest rangers, will be heading to India’s Himachal Pradesh ostensibly to learn just how to control these monkeys. I’m not sure anything will come of this visit except as an all-expenses-paid junket for the parliamentarians.

As always, there’s much more to talk about, including former prime minister KP Sharma Oli’s starring role in an upcoming film and the Nepal Army now taking over a defunct factory. But we are currently nearing 4,000 words so I’m going to stop right here before your eyes glaze over. On to the deep dive!

---

The deep dive: How well do we know China?

Image generated by Dall-E/Bing

On Wednesday, at an event with Members of Parliament, Sun Haiyan, vice minister of the International Liaison Department of the Communist Party of China, told participants that “some” forces were attempting to sabotage bilateral relations and those very forces had “increased activity against China”. Many commentators were quick to label this comment as “uncharacteristic” of Chinese officials but the days of the soft-spoken circumspect Chinese mandarin are long gone. Since the late 2010s, Chinese diplomats and officials have become much more outspoken and assertive, leading many in the West to characterize them as “wolf warriors”. Chinese diplomats like Zhao Lijian and Chen Weihua, EU bureau chief of the state-affiliated China Daily, are perhaps the most controversial examples.

In Nepal, former Chinese Ambassador Hou Yanqi didn’t mince words when she spoke about Chinese projects in Nepal, often tempering unrealistic Nepali expectations. Hou, along with the aforementioned Sun, both issued strong statements condemning US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial unscheduled visit to Taiwan in August 2022. In 2020, under Ambassador Hou, the Chinese embassy in Nepal also issued a very threatening statement against Anup Kaphle, then editor of The Kathmandu Post, calling him “biased on China-related issues” and “a parrot of some anti-China forces”. The statement was in response to the newspaper’s republication of an article critical of the Chinese response to the Covid-19 pandemic. More recently, current Chinese Ambassador Chen Song said in September last year that it was “unfortunate” that Nepal had neighbors like India.

So there’s nothing shocking about Sun’s comments on Wednesday. You might even say she was quite diplomatic in that she didn’t name or attack anyone. The change in how Chinese diplomats and officials assert themselves on the global stage is indicative of how China now sees itself — a global power. It is no longer a ‘rising’ power; it has already arrived. But many in Nepal still seem to see China as a regional power often vying with India for influence. China is no longer content to limit itself to Asia; it hasn’t for the past two or three decades. Its ambitions are global and it has already presented itself as a viable alternative partner to the Western-led world order, especially in the wake of conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine. After decades of US supremacy, we are now headed, once again, towards a multipolar world.

A multipolar or even a bipolar world can benefit countries like Nepal. Like during the Cold War, we can maintain equidistance from all sides while taking advantage of what they have to offer on our own terms. That, however, requires that we know what both sides want. During the Cold War, Nepalis were of course very influenced by American culture but they were also quite close to the Soviet Union, reading Russian literature, watching Soviet films, and even studying in Russia. To this day, the favorite book of a majority of Nepal’s old-guard leftist politicians (at least those who read), academics, and commentators is Maxim Gorky’s Mother. Today, I don’t see many (or any) Nepali politicians, academics, journalists, or ‘foreign policy experts’ who have ever read Chinese fiction or even watched a Chinese film. On some level, we perhaps understood Russia. I don’t believe we understand China the same way.

I’ve been to China twice. Once, when I was in my teens, I took a bike ride with friends to the Tatopani border point and crossed over to what we used to call Khasa and now call Zhangmu. I don’t think that counts. Later, when I was working at The Kathmandu Post in 2014, I visited Chengdu on a junket sponsored by China Daily and the city of Chengdu. Khasa was a sleepy border point, but Chengdu was a bustling and futuristic Chinese city. Like many who visit urban China for the first time, I was enthralled and a bit stupified. The press of people, the scale of everything.

The tour of Chengdu was, of course, rigidly choreographed by city officials and all of us had a ‘minder’, young Chinese members of the Communist Party of China who spoke relatively good English and acted as translators. While our minders were a little reserved at first, they quickly warmed up to me and were willing to talk about issues that we in the rest of the world had been taught were off-limits in China. These conversations took place away from the more senior city officials and party members, usually over a cigarette or a few beers or while munching on street food in the back alleys of Chengdu’s old city. For instance, over a discussion of how much censorship there was in China, I mentioned that I had heard that the artist Ai Weiwei’s works had been banned in the country for his criticism of the Chinese government. The next day, my minder came up to me with two copies of Ai’s books and took me to a bookshop where his art books were easily available. Don’t believe everything you hear, she told me.

Not everything was like that though. We visited a city-sponsored art studio where numerous artists were at work. One painter had very dark, surreal canvases that intrigued me so I asked our translator what the paintings were about. After some back and forth, the young translator told me that the artist was attempting to depict the pain and trauma of the Cultural Revolution. The translator had only just mentioned Cultural Revolution when a senior city official quickly ran over and took him aside. I saw that she was very clearly berating him. Then, they came back and she told me with a smile that the artist was only painting the pain and suffering of his own life, nothing to do with anything else.

I am telling you all this because even during one sponsored junket to China, I encountered conflicting ideas and ways of being. As much as there was surveillance and censorship, there were also people actively circumventing that kind of control. These were small moments of insight I gleaned from one week-long trip. That does not make me an expert on China, or even someone competent enough to write an essay on China. I do not speak or read Chinese; I have not lived for long in China; and I do not have many Chinese friends. This is all to my detriment, given how easily I can speak and read Hindi, how many Indian friends I have, and how often I’ve visited India. Naturally, I feel a closer affinity to India but intellectually, I would like to understand China better.

That brings me to the crux of this deep dive: how much do we really know about China and the Chinese? We don’t speak their language, we don’t read their books and we don’t watch their films. All we do is read about their government’s actions, and that too primarily through the Western media.

These days, it seems every academic, columnist, political commentator, or even journalist is an expert on China and Sino-Nepal relations. Every week or so, there’s a new seminar or talk program where men gather to pontificate on China. I am always flabbergasted to see that the vast majority of them are not even able to read Chinese, barring a few like Rupak Sapkota, the current foreign affairs advisor to the prime minister, who did his PhD in China and speaks fluent Chinese. How can you analyze, criticize, and deconstruct the foreign policy of a country when you cannot read their publications in their language? So all of the analysis our ‘China experts’ conduct is mediated through the English language, China analysts based largely in the West, or Chinese publications translated into English specifically for a global audience. The outcome is an intellectual suspicion of the Chinese government, its foreign policy, and ultimately, its people.

We do ourselves and the Chinese a great disservice by equating the Chinese people with the Chinese government, something we are loathe to do with Indians or Americans. We reproduce the same perception that many Westerners have of the Chinese — that they are unthinking, uncritical beings who are willing participants in their government’s censorship and propaganda. Even when it comes to the government, either China is a great friend and counterbalance to India or China is a hegemonic dictatorship that seeks to debt trap everyone. There’s no middle ground.

Of course, I don’t expect ordinary Nepalis or even all academics and journalists to learn Chinese, but I do expect those who call themselves China or foreign policy experts to at least make an attempt. This is not to say that it is impossible to do good scholarship without knowing the language. Amish Raj Mulmi’s All Roads Lead North is an excellent book written without the author knowing much Chinese or even spending much time in China. But it is a book that looks at China from Nepal and is thus excused. For those who profess to know how China sees Nepal or the world at large, it is necessary to go to the source.

This is not all on Nepalis, as Chinese is a difficult language to learn and we don’t have much in common. China itself has not put enough effort into expanding culturally. Books, philosophy, poetry, and art, all of which China has centuries of history to draw on, are not read much in Nepal because we don’t have access to them in English or even in Nepali. Hong Kong filmmakers like Wong Kar-wai and Edward Yang are more well-known among Nepali film aficionados than equally accomplished mainland auteurs like Chen Kiage, Jia Zhangke, or Zhang Yimou. Nepal’s urban youth read Haruki Murakami and Chetan Bhagat but hardly anyone reads Liu Cixin or Han Song.

Culture connects, more so than political ideology or shared geopolitical interests. Culture is the reason why America is still the global hegemon and why India is the regional hegemon. It is difficult to hate a country wholesale when you’re watching their movies, listening to their music, and following their celebrities on social media. Culture also teaches. It spreads values, history, and traditions. It is a far more effective way of winning over friends than just spreading cash.

It is in this regard that I stress the importance of citizen-led initiatives like The Araniko Project, a newsletter written by Aneka Rajbhandari and Raunab Singh Khatri, both of whom spent years studying in China and are fluent in Chinese. Their curated translations of socio-cultural stories from China have been a godsend in helping Nepalis access the Chinese perspective and understand their paradigms. Although they haven’t published since the New Year, I am hoping they will get back to it soon. Please go over and subscribe to them if you haven’t already:

The spate of official Chinese visits to Nepal, the rising amount of investments, and the growing number of tourists all show that China is very much interested in Nepal. Our relations, after all, go back hundreds of years. But how much do we really know about our northern neighbor? It’s time we learned.

---

That’s all for this week. I will be back next Friday, in your emails, for the next edition of Off the Record.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please consider sharing it with others who might enjoy weekly updates from Nepal or consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Thanks for reading Off the Record! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.