Senior diplomats bound for Nepal

India is a major source of military assistance

Two senior diplomats from India and China are due in Nepal on Thursday for talks with the authorities.

The visits take place amid a political crisis in the kingdom which is sandwiched between the two influential Asian giants.

The authorities have refused to give details of the proposed talks.

India condemned the move of King Gyanendra to seize direct control of the country in February but China described it as an "internal matter".

Indian foreign ministry official Ranjit Rae and Zhou Gang, a senior official of the Chinese foreign ministry, are both arriving in Kathmandu simultaneously.

'Setback'

The BBC's Sushil Sharma in Kathmandu says that a lot of importance has been attached to the visits from Nepal's influential and much larger neighbours.

Mr Rae is the first senior Indian official to visit Nepal since the royal take over in February, which Delhi dubbed "a setback" to democracy.

India, along with the US and the UK, subsequently suspended military assistance. But Delhi recently decided to resume military aid which it said was "in the pipeline".

India has been the largest supplier of military assistance to the Nepalese Army in its long-running fight against Maoist insurgents.

Correspondents say that Delhi is increasingly concerned about China's growing influence in the kingdom.

Chinese envoy Zhou Gang's visit follows a tour by Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing, two months ago. China described the royal take-over as an "internal matter" of Nepal.

About 12,000 people have died in Nepal since 1996 when the rebels began their insurgency.

The Maoists want to replace the country's constitutional monarchy with a communist republic.