Experts from South Asian countries have stressed on friendship and cooperation among Nepal, China and India for the benefit of the region and beyond. 

The made such remarks at the webinar on "Nepal-India China: Trilateralism" organized by the Kathmandu-based think-tank Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDIA) on Thursday.

The seminar focused on the current situation of the three neighboring countries Nepal, India and China and possible avenues for future co-operation that can benefit the whole region, along with challenges.

Professor Zhang Shubin, Director at Nepal Study Center, Hebei University of Economics & Business stated that the hostility of American and Indian media towards China has created cold war mentality and zero-sum game mindset that prevents India from cooperating with China. 

He stressed on making Nepal a cooperation platform that can create win-win benefit to all the three countries including Nepal itself. 

Echoing the same statement, Zhang Sheng, Research Fellow at Chengdu Institute of World Affairs said “BRI should be more attractive to Nepal instead of American projects, not because of money but because of the different world-view of China who understands the concept of sovereignty”. 

He said in contrast to western aid conditions, China doesn’t have any significant political conditions except to recognize the One China Policy, which Nepal respects. 

Speaking in the webinar, expert from Bangladesh, Anu Anwar, who is a Fellow at the Harvard Asia Centers, stressed on cooperation among the countries which can benefit the whole South Asia. 

He stated that India, to some extend, has taken smaller countries in South Asia as kind of granted to actually link as culturally and not as active participant in the South Asia broader geopolitical affairs. 

Thus, he highlighted on the need of cooperation among smaller countries who could be benefitted through infrastructure development and other kinds of investments.

Hari P Chand, a PhD scholar from Nepal, said that trilateralism has greater significance in trilateral cooperation among epistemic community of Nepal, India and China in context of the regional and global dynamics. 

"The role of epistemic community should focus on building a trilateral network of policy experts, researchers, think tanks, scholars and other stake holders," he remarked. 

On her oart, Agana Guha Roy, Research Associate at Delhi Policy Group stated that any trilateral project is based on conducive bilateral relations. She further said that there should be improvement in bilateral relations for furthering trilateral relations and first step should be Track III dialogue.

Meanwhile, Biswas Baral, Editor at the Annapurna Express, said that given the level of mistrust between India and China, Nepal, China and India trilateral cooperation is little farfetched and unrealistic. 

He suggested on instead of talking about making Nepal a vibrant economic bridge between India and China.