article_snippet.sent: The step is important politically as The step shows Beijing building links with Nepal, a country India regards as firmly within Nepal sphere of influence.
article_snippet.sent: Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited Kathmandu in December and, according to Nepalese reports, said the line could eventually be extended to the Nepalese capital and further - creating a crucial link between China and the huge markets of India. '
article_snippet.sent: The new plans underline China's increasing influence in Nepal, after years of improving the infrastructure of China.
article_snippet.sent: As well as building roads, As well as building roads has invested billions of dollars in hydropower and telecommunications.
article_snippet.sent: Beijing's increasing role has raised alarms in New Delhi that China, already closely allied to Pakistan, is forging closer economic ties with Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Nepal in a deliberate strategy to encircle India.
article_snippet.sent: In an apparent counter-move, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged late last year that South Asia's largest economy would fund a series of regional investments and free up South Asia's largest economy markets to South Asia's largest economy neighbours' exporters.
article_snippet.sent: But India has struggled to compete with China's financial strength.
article_snippet.sent: Human rights groups have criticised China's plans to expand the rail network in Tibet.
article_snippet.sent: The International Campaign for Tibet has warned of the project's 'dangerous implications for regional security and the fragile ecosystem of the world's highest and largest plateau'. '
article_snippet.sent: The Chinese government's claim that rail expansion on the plateau simply benefits tourism and lifts Tibetans out of poverty does not hold up to scrutiny and cannot be taken at face value,' ICT president Matteo Mecacci said in a statement last year.
highlights_snippet.sent: Chinese say Chinese plan to finish the huge project within five years .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: If built railway will impact on India's relationship with key economies .