Chinese premier Wen set for brief Nepal visit

Kathmandu, Jan 14: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will pay a brief visit to Nepal on Sunday, after a planed tour last month was abruptly postponed apparently over security concerns.

There has been no formal announcement of the much-awaited visit. Wen is schedule to arrive at 11 a.m. tomorrow for a five-hour visit before flying to Qatar, The Himalayan Times online said.

Wen's visit has been kept secret after his planed three-day visit from December 20 last year was postponed due to security concerns.

The government sources, when contacted, neither confirmed nor denied the report about Wen's visit.

Last month, the Chinese Embassy officials had expressed displeasure over the early announcement of the date of the premier's visit without consulting Beijing.

Yang Houlan, the Chinese ambassador to Nepal, met Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai yesterday and briefed him about the visit, according to officials.

Wen will hold bilateral talks with the Prime Minister, and meet other senior government officials and political leaders during the brief stay in Kathmandu.

Wen's visit will be the first by a Chinese prime minister since premier Zhu Rongji's visit in 2001.

The government has expressed its commitment not to allow anti-Beijing protests as it has underlined its 'one-China policy' and intensified crackdown against Tibetans.

The Nepalese authorities have taken extraordinary steps to enforce security, particularly keeping a close watch on the thousands of Tibetans living here in exile.

Over one hundred Tibetan refugees, including 52 women, were detained here after they entered the country from India without valid travel documents, police said today.

Nepal is home to more than 20,000 Tibetan exiles.

PTI