Discuss (c) 2019 Transit Protocol with China

Nepal's bilateral existence rests on two foundational instruments, one with each neighbour, both signed within a decade of each other and both still in force: the Treaty of Peace and Friendshipwith India (31 July 1950) and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship with China (21 March1960) — flanked by the economic twin with India, the Treaty of Trade and Transit (1960) andits successors. Together they define Nepal's borders' legal regime (open in one direction, managed in the other), its trade arteries, and the vocabulary of its sovereignty debates. The law student should read each treaty twice: once for its text, once for its politics — for in Nepal, treaties are living constitutional controversies, not archive documents (Article 51's mandate to review past treaties on the basis of equality and mutual interest is a standing instruction about precisely these instruments).