KATHMANDU: A contingent of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has landed in Kathmandu to participate in a joint military exercise with the Nepal Army.

The team of 37 Chinese soldiers arrived on Friday via Himalayan Airlines flight from Lhasa.

The fifth edition of the Nepal–China joint exercise, named “Sagarmatha Friendship,” begins Saturday and will continue for ten days.

The drills will focus on counter-terrorism operations, combat training, and disaster management.

Last year, the fourth edition of the exercise took place in Chongqing, near Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province.

The series began in 2017, with the first round held in Kathmandu, followed by Chengdu in 2018 and Nepal in 2019.

The program was suspended for several years during the Covid-19 pandemic before resuming in China last year.

While Nepal also conducts regular exercises with India under the “Surya Kiran” program and with the United States, Japan, and other partners, the growing frequency of Nepal–China military collaboration has drawn close attention from India, the U.S., and Western countries.

Observers link the exercises to China’s broader push to advance projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The Nepal Army maintains that such exercises are part of routine capacity-building and experience-sharing activities and are not directed against any particular country.