Military Diplomacy in Nepal - the Only Key for Peaceful Existence

“I believe the military should be wary of diplomacy until war is declared; then the State Department should keep its nose out and let the military do whatever is necessary to win” Stuart Symington.

Military diplomacy is defined as the series of activities which are carried out by the representatives of the defense department and its entities that aim in complying the foreign policy interests of the state in the field of security and defense policy. In the case of military diplomacy, the content is chiefly military in nature, troops are tangled, military collaboration is solid, military strength is exploited to demonstrate sovereign power, and it is characterized by better dignity, formality, and solemnity. In other words, it can also be defined as the peaceful use of resources from the spectrum of defense for achieving the positive outcomes in the development of a state’s bilateral and multilateral relationships with its adversaries and neighbors. Furthermore it also has got the coherent relationship with conflict prevention, security stabilization and military reforms.

The six-fold policy which includes peace (sandhi), War (vigraha), Neutrality (asana), Marching (yaana), Alliance (saamarasya) and Waging war with one and making peace with another (dvaidhi bhaava), promulgated by Chanakya also stresses on the importance of the military diplomacy for the prosperity and growth of the nation. Relating this to the current era where war is the least priority, super power countries have used the alliance ploys to a greater effect where causing unrest among the civilian population, dividing people on religion, caste etc., leading to the economic failure of the country and causing dependence in the form of loans on richer countries are the outcomes. So, as a developing country and Nepal having the geopolitical importance with regard to its location in between the two power house i.e. India and China, Nepal should comply all of its effort to balance the relationship in between these two states. It is obvious that the military diplomacy will be climacteric in aiding the country’s foreign policy and balancing the bilateral relationship with our neighbors.

The State of Military Diplomacy in Nepal

Nepal has a long and epic history of military diplomacy as an inevitable factor to deal with its strong counterparts i.e. India and China. As stated above, Nepal lies in between the two powerhouses of the world. Both the countries are the tough rivals. China being the Communist country follows the communist ideology and in the contrary, India as the republic country follows the democratic ideology. Both the country has huge contrast in the ideology and the foreign policy propounded with it. This has further implicated the challenges to Nepal’s diplomacy with two bipolar states.

Nepal has been has already engaged in major military conflicts with both of its counterpart i.e. the Anglo-Nepal War (1814-1816) between the East India Company and Nepal Tibet war. In protection of sovereignty of the country, all the wars were deemed to be the costly and unpleasant lesson for Nepal. So, military diplomacy is crucial for the country’s survival. The military diplomacy has been the vital factor of the country diplomacy starting way back from the establishment of the modern Nepal with the country’s assistance to China by conducting Khampa disarmament operation. Similarly, there are series of military supports provided by Nepal to the East India Company which includes the suppression of the Sepoy Mutiny(1857-1858) in India, assistance of the Younghusband expedition to Tibet in 1903-1904 and military support to the British government during the World Wars.

The geopolitical significance of Nepal have posed threat as well as assisted the county sovereignty. So for numerous times military diplomacy has played the vital role in securing and defending country’s national interest by deriving the country’s foreign policy. Prior to the establishment of modern Nepal, during the unification campaign initiated by the King Prithvi Narayan Shah; military diplomacy has enacted as the major factor for the success. As a weaker and poorer principality i.e. Gorkha during his prolusion to the unification campaign he made friendly alliances with Lamjung, Tanahun, and Palpa and during the campaign Prithvi Narayan Shah has established friendship with Bhaktapur. The instances during the campaign signifies the importance of military diplomacy for the state.In addition to this, the diplomatic notion of yam between ‘two states’ was propounded by the great King Prithivi Narayan Shah was the militariliy indoctrinated quote that has acted as the guiding principle for the Nepali foreign policy and diplomacy even at present. Consequently it has acted as the survival and the peaceful co-existence of the country. There are series of examples where military diplomacy has played the crucial role in dousing the hardships of the nation during hard and black times. At the time of insurgency, from the year 2001-2005 time periods Nepali Army largely acquired Nepal largely acquired defensive gears from the India, United States, and the United Kingdom for combating with the insurgents.

After King Gyanendra's royal coup in 2005 the military assistance from different nations was halted. During the grating time frame, China granted Nepal with military assistance worth USD $1 million to resist the intruders. Furthermore, the defense agreement between Nepal and China in December 2008 was noteworthy in which the China vowed to assist in modernizing the NA with USD $ 2.6 million in aid and prepared the path for high-level military and civilian personnel to visit Nepal. Consequently, on December 2009, China agreed to assist Nepal army with the supply of 'non-lethal' hardware that includes logistics and training. During the havoc created by 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal on April 25, the Indian Government sent its Air Force with rescue teams. India also sent 1,000 strong National Disaster Response Force, 13 military transport planes and six Mi-17 helicopters, three army field hospitals together with tons relief and rescue supplies including blankets, food and medicine. China also sent search and rescue teams and offered helicopters. The United States provided a Disaster Response Preparedness Team consisting of US marines, aircraft and helicopters and logistical support. Similarly the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, Malaysia and many foreign governments also dispatched relief and rescue teams to Nepal.

Moreover, when Nepal had just recovered from the devastating earthquake, it was severely affected by an unofficial Indian economic embargo on September 20, bringing the country traumatically close to a humanitarian catastrophe. During this period of political mishap, COAS General Chhetri was invited to India for almost a week long formal tour to earn the honorary title of COAS of the Indian Army. This provided a chance to meet with India's multiple power structures and persuade them to relieve economic and transit issues. India removed the embargo a day before General Chhetri's tour ended. The Chiefs of Army of both nations played pivotal role in correcting the Indian elite's wrong perceptions and relieving the embargo. As in the past, Nepali Army has demonstrated its ability and efficiency in successfully carrying out military diplomacy and providing the relief to the country and its people.In addition to this, NA is the one of the nation’s entity that has outreached globally as the peacekeepers in the United Nations. Consequently, this has further enhanced the reputation of the country in the global forum and exhibited the presence and the existence of the country globally.

The State of Military Diplomacy in Nepali Army

Nepali Army has been participating coherently with the various military of the foreign states conducted in abroad and conducted jointly within the state. The military exercises with the foreign counterparts have been acting as the crucial element for guiding own military principles and enhancing the professionalism of the country’s National army. In addition, it has had smoothened the relationship between the countries as well. In relation to this, The U.S. Pacific Command and NA has co-hosted The Shanti Prayas (Peace Initiative) Exercise, three times in 2000, 2013, and 2017.Initially there were only 4 participating nations when it was started in 2000 but the number rose significantly to 23 and soldiers to 445 by 2013. Moreover, 34 nations with 1068 soldiers participated in 2017. Apparently Nepal and USA has been conducting different Joint Training Exercise in different time frame. Similarly, 15th edition of Nepal-India Joint Military Training Exercise has already been conducted till date. Moreover, the participation of Nepali Army personnel in various trainings in the foreign countries has enhanced the understanding regarding the national and international security environment. Impeccably, these sorts of training and exercises will foster the relationship with the foreign countries and also enhance the professionalism of the NA.

Conclusion

In the nutshell, Nepal must duly consider the military diplomacy as part of its foreign policy and create the capacities, modules and processes necessary to put it into action. Being the developing country, the government of Nepal should effectively utilize its military entities in presenting the country in the global spectrum. The political leaders, military leaders and the policy makers should have abundant knowledge about the significance of the military diplomacy and its role in shaping the country’s foreign policy. For this, Military diplomacy must enter the syllabuses of our military academies. Trained military officers must be deputed to Nepali embassies and missions around the world to augment strengths of our missions abroad. Intermingling of military concept and the civil affairs concept in building international strategic diplomatic framework will create benefits in the long term strengthening of the country’s foreign policy, enhancing the country’s international relationship and fostering the country’s prosperity Ultimately, it pose as an inevitable and the most determining factor for the Nepal’s peaceful existence in the globe.

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