Nepal, July 31 -- In recent years, the idea of Nepal as a land-linked country has figured prominently in academia and policymaking circles. Numerous commentators have written about the benefits of utilising Nepal's position to emerge as a land-linked country between India and China, a solution to Nepal's current restrictive situation as a landlocked country sandwiched between two giant neighbours. These theories talk about trilateral cooperation between India, China and Nepal as it is mutually beneficial for them, and points towards the emergence of Nepal as a transit economy.

Such analysis relies on the fundamental premise of the economic interdependence theory, which states that two countries dependent on each other for trade will not ...