Nepal’s Foreign Policy Balances India and China Amid Shifting Asian Power Dynamics

Nepal’s foreign policy is centred on its two large neighbours, India to the south and China to the north, a positioning that has become increasingly pivotal as global power shifts from the Atlantic to the Asia‑Pacific. The country’s leaders stress that relations with these neighbours are the top priority, citing former Prime Minister Sushil Koirala’s 2014 declaration that Nepal will “strengthen relations and widen areas of cooperation for mutual benefit” while preventing its territory from being used against neighbouring security interests.

The analysis notes that India’s “neighbourhood‑first” approach, highlighted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to SAARC leaders for his 2014 swearing‑in, reinforces the strategic importance of regional stability. With India and China now the world’s second‑largest and fourth‑largest economies, Nepal’s location in the trans‑Himalayan zone offers opportunities in hydropower, agriculture, tourism and biodiversity, but also limits its diplomatic manoeuvring in a landscape described by Zbigniew Brzezinski as a “chessboard” of global primacy.