China, Bhutan to end boundary talks at earliest: Why this is a worry for India

China and Bhutan have vowed to resolve their boundary dispute at the earliest, a development that could have implications for India. In a meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday (23 October), Bhutanese foreign minister Tandi Dorji said Thimphu was ready to conclude the boundary negotiations and ramp up the process to set up diplomatic ties with China. Wang also said that Beijing is willing to work with Bhutan. “The two sides should seize historical opportunities, complete the important process as soon as possible and designate and develop the friendly relations between the two countries in legal form,” The Tribune quoted the Chinese foreign minister as saying. What is the border dispute between China and Bhutan? Why do the boundary talks between the two concern India? We explain. Tracing the Bhutan-China border dispute China and Bhutan share about 477 kilometres of border. The dispute over the boundary can be traced back to 1950 when China occupied Tibet and refused to recognise the dividing line between Tibet and Bhutan, as per ThePrint report. Beijing also took over the control of eight Bhutanese enclaves in Tibet during its retaliatory action to the Tibetan uprising in 1959, the report added. [caption id=“attachment_13290522” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Bhutan’s boundary talks with China could hold implications for India. Reuters (Representational Image)[/caption] Bhutan and China started boundary talks in 1984 and have since focused on mainly three disputed areas — Jakarlung and Pasamlung areas in north Bhutan, and the Doklam area in west Bhutan. Recent China’s ‘incursions’ in Bhutan In 2017, the Indian and Chinese troops were involved in an intense standoff over Doklam that lasted two months after Beijing started constructing a road towards the strategically significant Jampheri ridge line. India considers the Doklam plateau as an undisputed territory of Bhutan, whereas, Beijing regards it as an extension of its Chumbi Valley, which lies between Sikkim and Bhutan, noted ThePrint. In June 2020, Beijing asserted a claim on the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, which is situated in eastern Bhutan and borders Arunachal Pradesh. China has also allegedly built several villages inside Bhutanese territory. However, these allegations were dismissed by Bhutanese prime minister Lotay Tshering in an interview with the Belgian newspaper La Libre in March. Why Bhutan-China border talks concern India Doklam holds great security importance for India. China’s control over the region could threaten the Siliguri Corridor, a 22km stretch connecting the Indian mainland to the Northeast. Also known as Chicken’s Neck, the Siliguri Corridor links India with Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and Bangladesh. Bhutan PM Tshering’s remarks in March that gave equal weightage to China among India and Bhutan in resolving the Doklam border dispute had caused alarm in New Delhi. “It is not up to Bhutan alone to solve the problem. We are three. There is no big or small country, there are three equal countries, each counting for a third. We are ready. As soon as the other two parties are also ready, we can discuss,” he said at the time, as per BBC. Tshering also said then that Bhutan will possibly demarcate some disputed territories with China in “one or two more meetings”. [caption id=“attachment_13290532” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Bhutan’s prime minister Lotay Tshering and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House in New Delhi in 2018. Reuters File Photo[/caption] There are concerns in New Delhi that a deal between Thimphu and Beijing could include swapping Doklam – located close to the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China – for disputed territories in the north. This trijunction point is at a spot called Batang La. China wants to shift this point about 7 km south of Batang La to a peak called Mount Gipmochi – a move unacceptable to New Delhi as that would mean the entire Doklam plateau would be under Beijing’s control. “Any attempt of China to shift the location of the tri-junction south would be unacceptable to the Indian armed forces. Chinese attempts at unilateral disruption of the status quo, like construction activity across parts of western Bhutan, is a major security concern with a clear security bearing upon India,” Lieutenant General Pravin Bakshi (Retd) told NDTV in March. According to ThePrint, India believes China’s claim over Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is its way of putting pressure on Bhutan to hand over Doklam. “India is concerned that China is pressuring Bhutan to settle the boundary to harass New Delhi,” P Stobdan, a former senior Indian diplomat and an expert on Himalayan affairs, told BBC in April. “Clearly, the Bhutanese are intending to speed up the process of resolving their differences and there have been some changes in the Bhutanese stance lately with regards to China’s role in settling the dispute,” he added. Bhutan and China have held 24 rounds of talks on the boundary issue, along with 13 Expert Group Meetings (EGMs) – three were conducted this year alone. Meanwhile, tensions remain high between India and China over the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Despite several rounds of deliberations following military clashes in 2020 in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, both sides have not been able to reach an agreement over the disengagement of troops at key friction points such as Depsang and Demchok. In late August, Beijing vexed New Delhi by releasing a “standard map” showing Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh within China’s border. India rejected China’s territorial claims, with External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar calling the map “absurd.” As Foreign Policy explained in an article, “China’s increased urgency toward border talks with Bhutan should not be seen in isolation. Resolving the dispute over Doklam is inextricably linked to the conflict on China and India’s shared border, and specifically to the status of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as an extension of South Tibet. With Doklam under its control, China could exert more pressure on India; Chinese forces could easily sever India’s connection to the eastern part of their disputed border.” China has not settled its land border dispute with only two countries — India and Bhutan. In some relief to New Delhi, Bhutan and China have not organised the 25th round of border talks so far, a development that India will be watching closely. With inputs from agencies