A horrifying earthquake has struck one of China’s smallest neighbors, the mountainous former kingdom known, since 2008, as the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal. Surrounded on three sides by India—known in Nepali as a “friendly nation”—Nepal these days feels an outsized influence from China, on its fourth border, and historically called just “neighboring country.” Today, Nepal’s tourism industry caters increasingly to hoards of Chinese sightseers and mountain climbers. And its government has just declined aid from Taiwan (which Beijing considers a renegade province). In this moment, it makes sense to turn to China with its substantial post-quake search-and-rescue experience. In a time of intense need, will the leaders of China behave as good neighbors? Will China be able to act without any strings attached, thus bolstering good will and soft power for the nation in an historically fractious region that includes many refugees from the troubled Tibetan areas of China? —The Editors