Nepal, China, and Christianity: Conversion or Coercion
Gomchen Karma Yogi, a Nepalese friend of mine, reminded me of a kind of quid pro quo that might help the President understand what quid pro quo means and why it is often seen as a type of subterfuge. This is no less pernicious than anything he'd use to pressure foreign powers. In Nepal, Christian organizations and missionaries will rebuild villages, provide education, do solildly good work on infrastructure BUT it comes with a caveat. Typically, there is some amount of evangelizing, if not outright conversion-by-obligation. The numbers vary but in one article, the number of converts might be as high as three million or almost ten percent of the predominantly Hindu population. At issue is that Nepal is a poor country, stuck between a rock and a hard place: a corrupt government and the encroaching influence of Xi Jinping's China. Nepalese are frustrated by the lack of support from the government in almost all areas of polity and if rebuilding from the 2015 earthquake ...