Nepal-China relations are based on the five principles of peaceful coexistence and remain trouble free, a Nepalese consul general in Lhasa, China, said Friday in Kathmandu.

"Despite huge differences in terms of their sizes and economic strength between Nepal and China, bilateral relations have remained cordial, friendly and I can say exemplary," said Leela Mani Paudyal, Nepalese Consul General at the Royal Nepal Consulate General Office in Lhasa, capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in an interview with Xinhua.

Nepal highly values China's unconditional support to it in different turns of history. "China never interfered our internal affairs," said Paudyal who is home on furlough. "Unflinching support of China to the Nepalese people, irrespective of whoever sits in power, is really commendable."

Both Nepal and China share common views in almost all international issues, added the senior diplomat in talking about the 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

"Politically cordial, economically mutually beneficial and culturally people to people based relations, in my opinion, can be termed ideal," he said. "Promoting more exchanges of delegations and frequent interactions at higher level would maintain and further promote cordial political relations."

He further said that exploring areas of complementarities and encouraging both sides enterprises to exploit the opportunities would ultimately benefit the people of both sides and strengthen the economic relations.

More and more cultural exchanges bring people of the two countries closer and enhance their understanding to each other, he said.

On the religious freedom in Tibet, Paudyal said, "I have seen crowd of thousands of religious believers every day circling around the Potala Palace and other temples in Lhasa. Any one visiting Lhasa can see this scene every day in the morning and evening. I can easily infer from such crowd that common people can perform their religious activities according to their belief without trouble."

Paudyal talked about his impression on Tibet's economic development.

The pace of economic development is amazing in Tibet. The Chinese government has been investing tremendously large amount in physical infrastructure in the region, he said. "Economic growth rate is around 12 percent per annum for many years there. One can easily observe the drastic improving of the life of TAR people over the years."

Paudyal said Nepal could benefit from the economic development in China and Nepal should first focus on the promotion of trans- border tourism. "The fastest growing demand of daily consumables in western China is also an opportunity to Nepal."

Source: Xinhua