China urges Nepal to join new mediation body as Beijing seeks greater influence in South Asia

China has called on Nepal to become part of the newly established International Organisation for Mediation (IOMed), as Beijing seeks to expand its diplomatic footprint in South Asia beyond Pakistan.

The IOMed was officially launched on Friday in Hong Kong, with the aim of enhancing China’s global influence through multilateral dialogue and conflict resolution mechanisms.

According to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, 33 nations signed the convention during the launch event, thereby becoming founding members of the new body. However, the complete list of member countries has yet to be disclosed.

During the inauguration, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting with his Nepali counterpart, Arzu Rana Deuba, urging Kathmandu to join IOMed at the earliest opportunity, according to an official statement.

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While Deuba was present at the launch ceremony, Nepal has not yet committed to joining the organisation.

We discussed various aspects of Nepal-China bilateral ties, including high-level exchanges and development cooperation, Deuba said in a post on X after the meeting.

Look forward to continue working together towards further strengthening relations between the two countries, she added in the post on X.

Wang said China and Nepal are traditional friendly neighbours and China places Nepal in an important position in its neighbourhood diplomacy.

For her part, Deuba congratulated China on the successful signing ceremony of the IOMed and said that it is an ideal choice to have the IOMed headquarters in Hong Kong, according to the press release.

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Beijing’s all-weather ally Pakistan has signed up for the IOMed and its Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar attended the signing ceremony.

During their meeting, Wang told Dar that China is willing to work with Pakistan and other countries to provide voluntary and efficient new options for dispute settlement for all countries, and a new platform for maintaining peace, stability, fairness and justice in the Global South, the foreign ministry press release said.

With inputs from agencies