By TRN Online, Kathmandu, Feb. 23: China has said that international development cooperation should be based on mutual respect and equality between the donor and the recipient country and that and that the sovereignty and will of the people of the recipient country should be fully respected.

Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said so while responding to a query about the tabling of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact in Nepal's parliament and the protests against it and the US view that failure to ratify the MCC will impact the relations between the USA and Nepal.

She was speaking at the regular press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China on Wednesday in Beijing. 

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson even questioned how a gift could 'come with a package of an ultimatum'.

"I noticed that a US State Department spokesperson said earlier that Nepal’s failure to ratify the MCC compact will affect bilateral ties. The US Embassy in Nepal described the $500 million MCC grant as “a gift from the American people to Nepalis. I wonder, since when does a gift come with the package of an ultimatum? How can anyone accept such a “gift”? Is it a “gift” or Pandora’s box? I’m afraid it will turn out like a Nepalese saying: It looks good, but you will find the meat difficult to chew," she said while responding the query.

It is China’s consistent belief that in pursuing international development cooperation, the principle of mutual respect and equality should be upheld, the sovereignty of the country concerned and the will of its people should be fully respected, and there should be no interference in any country’s domestic affairs, no political strings attached, no coercive diplomacy, and certainly no infringement on other countries’ sovereignty and interests for selfish gains, she said.

Spokesperson Hua said that China will continue to provide support for Nepal's socioeconomic development. "As Nepal’s friendly close neighbor and development partner, China will continue to support the Nepalese people in choosing independently their own development path and offer support and assistance to Nepal’s socioeconomic development to the best of its capability."