China has welcomed the King’s address of Friday, saying that the proclamation would help the political forces in Nepal to engage in dialogue for reconciliation.
“We welcome the declaration of King Gyanendra and we think that the king s speech will help the political forces in Nepal to engage in dialogue and realize political reconciliation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang said in a statement on Sunday.
Saying that Nepal is a good friendly neighbour Gang expressed hope that the situation in Nepal would quickly recover and that the political atmosphere would become stable, according to AFP news agency.
The Chinese reaction to the royal proclamation bears resemblance with the position of a large section of the international community including the United States, European Union and United Nations.
Earlier, China had described the royal takeover of February 1, 2005, as an internal affair of Nepal while the international community criticised it as a setback to democracy and asked to King to reach out to the parties and return to democratic process.
On Friday, King Gyanendra in a televised address to the nation announced to hand back power to the people and called on the seven-party alliance to name a new prime minister. nepalnews.com mk Apr 24 06