Nepali Times: It's been half a century since Nepal and China established diplomatic relations, how would you describe the present state of relations?
Sun Heping: China and Nepal are traditionally amicable neighbours and the present bilateral relations are excellent. There is no outstanding problem but friendship between our two countries. Both can take pride in the peaceful trustworthy conduct of bilateral relations on the basis of equality. In recent years, the exchange of high-level visits has been frequent and cooperation in various fields has expanded. Crown Prince Paras' visit to China last year further strengthened China-Nepal friendship and neighbourly partnership. This year marks the golden jubilee of the establishment of diplomatic relations between us.

Do you also see a role for the proposed Kosi-Lhasa Highway to facilitate China-India trade?
Economic globalisation and regional cooperation are international business trends and countries are heavily interdependent in international trade. Both India and Nepal are China's close neighbours. If there is a certain form of economic cooperation that all three can benefit from, we should sit down and explore its feasibility. As far as the specific issue in your question, we should listen to Nepal government's view first.

What is your government's position on the February First changes here?
It is essentially Nepal's internal affair. As a friendly neighbour, we sincerely hope that Nepal can realise social stability, economic development and national reconciliation. Meanwhile, we respect the choice of the Nepali people for their social system and development in line with Nepal's national realities.

How seriously does the Chinese government regard the anti-government insurgency in Nepal?
As Nepal's close neighbour, China is concerned about the issue of anti-government insurgency in Nepal. We strongly condemn any violent activities against civilians and civil infrastructures. Peace and stability in Nepal is not only in the interests of Nepal and its people, but is also conducive to regional peace and stability. We hope that the peace process here can be restarted as soon as possible so lasting peace can be realised at an earlier date.

What would you say are China's main foreign policy and economic concerns vis-?-vis Nepal?
China always maintains an independent foreign policy of peace and its policy towards its neighbours can be summarised as being a friend and partner, living in harmony and sharing security to help them prosper. I should say that to promote friendly relations and cooperation with Nepal in all fields is the priority of China's foreign policy towards Nepal.

Is there any geopolitical sensitivity about Nepal's location as far as China is concerned?
You can change a neighbour but you can't change a neighbouring country. Bordering the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, Nepal is very important to the stability and prosperity of Tibet. We feel very lucky and happy to have a friendly neighbour like Nepal. We appreciate the friendly policy towards China that the king of Nepal and the Nepali government have always adopted, and that they do not allow any anti-China activities on Nepali soil.

Nepali Times: The king has said he is rescuing democracy and wants to defeat terrorism, what's wrong with that?
Keith Bloomfield: We regard it as a backward step in terms of democracy and restoring peace, it has made the prospect of negotiations a lot more difficult. The Maoists are now united as never before and the constitutional forces are more divided than they've ever been.

Isn't suspension of military aid going to hurt the fight against terrorism?
The biggest single help to the Maoists was February First and not any suspension of military aid. In a functioning democracy like the UK, it is very difficult to explain to elected representatives that we regard the king's move as a backward step while at the same time arguing in favour of continuing to support a military structure.

But we would certainly expect the king to deliver on what he's quite clearly promised in his proclamation and in various other contact we've had with him, which is an early lifting of the state of emergency, release of all political prisoners, some opening of meaningful dialogue with the political parties, and some serious move on human rights including renewing the mandate of the NHRC, full access without prior notice and restrictions to places of detention through bodies like the NHRC and the ICRC.

Isn't the choice between democracy and terrorism?
We believe that the best solution to the conflict in Nepal is a negotiated solution. We believe that the political parties and democracy have to be part of a successful negotiation, therefore we see the biggest single thing that we can do to help to beat the Maoists and help the people of this country is to support the political sectors, the democratic space against attempts by both sides to polarise opinion in this country. We will refuse to be polarised and be given the only option between one violent solution and another violent solution.

There seems to be unprecedented convergence between the UK, US and India on policy towards Nepal.
There is almost total convergence between the three countries you mention, we are in very close consultation.
What is you current policy on development and humanitarian aid?

They are under review. There are parts of it which were dependent on the continuation of the IMF/World Bank program and since these are not going to be submitted to the IMF/WB boards for the moment, it follows that our programs can't proceed. There are some projects which no longer make sense and are no longer justifiable in parliamentary terms. But of course we continue to want to deliver real assistance to the poor including those in the remote areas of the country. We will be assessing those programs under a number of criteria including the safety of our staff and practical realities. The development space is getting restricted by both sides in the conflict.

Do you think your pressure tactics are working?
The king has said to us that he needs a bit of time in order to work out a plan abot what he is going to do during the next three years. While we would like to see some hint of action on many of the demands that I put forward, we would wait and see what he comes up with before taking our thinking process further. The same is true for the political parties if they come up with a plan in order to produce a coherent and structured platform, which we can then support.

Some senior politicians have been released.
We would see those measures as being very limited steps in the right direction. And in some cases they have been countered by further arrests, they release some with one hand and arrest others with the other hand. We would be looking at actions and not words, we have heard again and again what different governments are intending to do and we have learnt only to respect what is actually done. Some of the people the king has surrounded himself with do not encourage us to believe him when he says he's interested in returning to democracy.

Are you satisfied with the moves here to fulfill human rights commitments ahead of the Geneva conference this month?
The king said in his proclamation the government is keen to respect human rights yet at the same time there has been intimidation of human rights activists many of them not allowed to leave the Valley.

There is no effective monitoring allowed, access to detainees is restricted, UN observers who've come here have found a record number of disappearances, there are question marks about the future of an independent human rights commission, these are all issues that will be raised in Geneva.

But I don't want you to get the impression we are not just as worried about Maoist violations, they have been behaving pretty appallingly themselves, extorting money, recruiting child soldiers and so on. We believe the democratic space, and I include in that the civil liberties and respect of human rights, has to be an essential part of the solution to the conflict.

Democracy goes much much wider than the political party leaders but you don't encourage the emergence of a mature democracy by locking up party leaders. Civil liberties and human rights go hand-in-hand with democracy and so do grassroots organisations and participation. Press freedom is essential as apart of the democratic space. Full press freedom should be restored, not just taking out the security forces from the offices but withdrawing some of the instructions that have gone out shortly after the king's takeover. All these elements are a part of a future prosperous and peace-loving Nepal and that's why we are so put out by the political developments in this country.

What should happen, then?
There is a huge gap in confidence between the king and the political parties and it is mutual. What needs to happen is for both the king and the parties to forget mutual recrimination, develop a common platform for getting back to peace negotiations through restoration of democratic processes. We need to strengthen democracy not undermine it. Only democracy in the end can combat the political aims of the Maoists.

Doesn't everything you've said in this interview amount to interference in Nepal's internal affairs?
I have been here nearly three years. Whenever I or any of my diplomatic colleagues say anything that people don't like they accuse us of unwarranted interference in internal affairs, whenever I say something they do like they come up to me and congratulate me for speaking out and saying things which people inside the country don't dare to say.