Nepal's Zone of Peace Concept and China:

TLDR: The idea of buffer states was first mooted by Kir.g Birendra at the Algiers Summit Conference of nonaligned nations in September 1973 as discussed by the authors, where he emphasized the need for peace and cooperation and said: "Nepal, situated between two most populous countries in the world, wishes within her frontiers to be enveloped in a zone of peace".

Abstract: THE IDEA was first mooted by Kir.g Birendra at the Algiers Summit Conference of nonaligned nations in September 1973. Addressing the conference, he emphasized the need for peace and cooperation and said: ’Nepal, situated between two most populous countries in the world, wishes within her frontiers to be enveloped in a zone of peace.’I Earlier, in an interview to the American weekly Newsweek, King Birendra said that the basic problems facing Nepal ’are development and the preservation of our identity as a nation’. Nepal, he said, is not a part of the subcontinent; it is really a part of Asia which touches both India and China. He considered the concept of a buffer state as outmoded, and playing one ncighbour against the other as a short-sighted policy.’ According to some observers, the King feared that the events which had led to the break-up of Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh would have repercussions in Nepal. Nepalese leaders maintain that their main foreign policy objective is to keep its sovereignty and unity. Its security depends on its relations with its two neighbours to the south and north, and on the state of affairs between them. Nepal’s moves towards New Delhi and Peking, since King Birendra ascended the throne in January 1972, can thus be described as cautious. Close friendship with the two neighbours is the focal point of the kingdom’s foreign policy. Nepal intends to maintain an even-handed relationship with both. King Birendra’s visit to New Delhi in December 1973 was followed