Recent talks between China and Bhutan
Context:
- In Beijing, China and Bhutan signed a Cooperation Agreement on the “Responsibilities and Functions of the Joint Technical Team (JTT) on the Delimitation and Demarcation of the Bhutan-China Boundary” during their 25th round of border negotiations.
Importance of the contract:
- This builds on the positive momentum from their previous conversations in 2016 and progresses their 3-Step Roadmap for border resolution, which was started in 2021. After a seven-year break, Bhutan and China held the boundary negotiations, which show considerable progress has been made.
- Bhutan’s north and west have a contiguous border with the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR).
- The Doklam standoff between Indian and Chinese soldiers in 2017 and the COVID19 epidemic in 2019–21 appeared to have delayed the 25th round of negotiations between Bhutan and China, which had been ongoing since 1984.
- But the two parties took advantage of the break to quickly move on to other levels of negotiations, particularly as China threatened to create a new front in the border conflict with Bhutan to the east.
The three-step process:
- Since Bhutan has always shied away from diplomatic relations with all permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Bhutan and China do not have diplomatic connections (P5).
- For the first time, a boundary separating Chinese and Bhutanese territory should be drawn with clarity according to the 3-Step Roadmap.
It involves the following three stages:
- Accepting the boundary “on the table”
- Seeing the locations in person
- formally defining the frontier
Importance to India:
- Every indication of stronger ties between China and one of its closest neighbours is a reason for concern for India, given the breakdown in its ties with China over the impasse at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) from 2020 post-Galwan Valley conflict.
- More precisely, New Delhi is keeping an eye on the Doklam demarcation talks because one of China’s ideas is to “swap” territories in Doklam under Bhutanese authority for areas China claims in Jakarlung and Pasamlung.
- The Siliguri corridor, a slender stretch of land that links India’s North Eastern States to the country’s interior, is extremely close to the Doklam trijunction. India is opposed to China having access to any region that is closer to it.
- China has increased its control over the Doklam plateau since the 2017 standoff, and a recent Pentagon report claims that it has also kept building “underground storage facilities, new roads, and new villages in disputed areas in neighbouring Bhutan,” wiping out many of the strategic gains that New Delhi had hoped for following China’s agreement to retreat from the standoff point.
- Lastly, China’s demand for complete diplomatic relations with Bhutan and the opening of an embassy in Thimphu is the source of India’s concern. Any Chinese presence in a small nation like Bhutan would be difficult given India’s issues with Chinese projects and funding in other nearby nations like Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives.
Way Forward:
- But as of now, Bhutan’s government has stated that it has always engaged India on matters of importance and that all decisions will take India’s interests into account.
