WHY DIDN’T NEPAL JOIN THE INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY (IPS)? A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF NEPAL’S FOREIGN POLICY RESPONSE TO IPS
WHY DIDN’T NEPAL JOIN THE INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY (IPS)? A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF NEPAL’S FOREIGN POLICY RESPONSE TO IPS

Summary/Abstract: The significance of maritime interactions has impacted coastal andlandlocked countries. Nepal’s response to the US-led Indo-PacificStrategy (IPS) signifies the same. For Nepal, crossing seas was cultur-ally associated with sin as an objective to fulfill the isolationist policyadopted until the political change of 1950. As such, Nepal’s interac-tion with the sea was not so friendly in the past. However, these his-torical shreds of evidence cannot suffice as the reason behind her de-nial of joining the IPS. Most of the available literature divulges thesensitive geographical position of Nepal in the context of the rise ofChina and the projection of a ‘new Cold War’ for its reluctance to jointhe Indo-Pacific strategy. However, they fail to probe into the domes-tic intricacies contributing to the hesitation. In this context, this pa-per primarily tries to dwell upon the actors and factors that have in-fluenced Nepal’s dubiety in joining the Indo-Pacific Strategy. Thus,this paper aims to fulfill two objectives. First, to analyze the role ofgeographical sensitivity, and second, to scrutinize the domestic inter-play of things. As exploratory qualitative research, this study reviewsthe official documents, agreements, statements, speeches, and reportsfrom think tanks and newspapers to hypothesize that besides externalfactors there are integral internal elements that have played a part inNepal’s denial to join the strategic partnership.

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