Mt Everest Friendship Exercise started between Nepal & China

The 2nd edition of the Nepal-China joint military exercise “Mt Everest Friendship Exercise (or Sagarmatha Friendship-2018” has started at Chengdu, the capital of China’s southwestern Sichuan Province, from September 17. The aim of the 10-day exercise is to share expertise in disaster management and to fight terrorism, among others. This will reduce Nepal’s dependence on India and allow China to get a firmer foothold in the sub-continental drama. This comes at a time when Nepal refuses to participate in the first-ever BIMSTEC military exercise “MILEX-18”, which has started in India from September 10.