Nepal embarks on 'rhino diplomacy' with rare gift to China

The young male and a female rhinos, Rudra and Rupsi, boarded a charted flight bound for Guangzhou along with a team of Nepali experts. "The rhinos were loaded in the plane in their crates and are on their way now. They were healthy and doing well," Man Bahadur Khadka, chief of Nepal's department of parks and wildlife conservation, told AFP.The rhinos are expected to be released into a safari park in Guangzhou. K.P. Sharma Oli had promised China the rhinos in 2016 during his previous tenure as Nepal's prime minister.A Nepalese veterinary and technical team prepare to dart a one-horned rhino in Chitwan National Park.The gift comes shortly after Oli's visit to China last month when, as Nepali prime minister once more, he signed deals with Beijing including a railway linking Tibet and Kathmandu."I hope that this exchange will help strengthen the friendship between our nations in the coming days," Oli said at a ceremony on Thursday for the rhinos attended by China's ambassador to Nepal, Yu Hong.A second pair of rhinos is being prepared to be sent as well. Nepal is seeking closer ties and much-needed energy and infrastructure investment from China, which has flexed greater economic and diplomatic muscle in its Himalayan neighbour in recent years. They are not the first recipients of Nepaltarget="_blank"'>A successful anti-poaching and conservation initiative has seen the population steadily climb over the past decade to around 645.