Nepal PM Balendra Shah's India-China Balancing Act In UN Climate Pitch

Nepal Prime Minister Balendra (Balen) Shah used his maiden address to the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to call for a Himalayan Climate Resilience Mechanism in partnership with India and China in the wake of the recent devastating flash floods in the Himalayan nation. Pitching a data and expertise-sharing framework between the three nations, Shah told world leaders that a warming climate is destabilising the fragile Himalayan ecology.The Balancing ActHis call was in unison with the efforts of successive Nepali governments post-2015 to achieve a geopolitical balance between India and China. As a landlocked country wedged between two mega-economies, Kathmandu has long sought to preserve its strategic autonomy by balancing the influence of its two neighbours.Speaking at UNGA, Shah said, "The Hindu Kush Himalaya is home to nearly two billion people. These mountains provide water, ecosystems, agriculture, and livelihoods to populations far beyond Nepal.