KATHMANDU: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane has reportedly made a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping a key condition for his planned visit to China, leaving the timing of the trip yet to be finalized.

According to party leaders, Lamichhane, who is preparing to lead a five-member delegation to China in early August, wants his Beijing visit to receive the same high-level political recognition as his recent trip to India, during which he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

The visit, Lamichhane’s first to China as RSP chairman, has been invited by the Communist Party of China (CPC). Party sources said an earlier schedule in July was postponed because a meeting with Xi could not be confirmed, and the visit could be delayed again if such an engagement is not secured.

Officials familiar with the preparations said meetings with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and senior CPC International Department officials are almost certain. However, the final itinerary will depend on whether Beijing approves a meeting with President Xi.

Under China’s diplomatic protocol, Xi generally meets visiting heads of state, heads of government, or other leaders with special official status, although he has occasionally met foreign political party leaders in his capacity as General Secretary of the CPC. Among Nepali political leaders, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ remains the only party chief known to have held a formal meeting with Xi in Beijing in 2013 before later meeting him multiple times as Nepal’s prime minister.