Reforms and Recriminations

Less than a month after Birendra’s enthronement, U.S. President Richard Nixon made his landmark trip to China. For Nepal, the “week that changed the world” underscored the erosion of its importance as an arena for Washington and Beijing to counter each other’s influence in the region. Kathmandu, which had attracted American interest as “a listening post” on China, and in particular Tibet (second in importance only to Hong Kong ¹ ) now remained wary of the potential of the growing Indo-Soviet alliance.