Bhutan, China, India and the Boundary Issue
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
Bhutan and China resumed their talks on the boundary issue. They held their 25th round of boundary talks, that have been held up since the last round in 2016, even as Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, with both sides saying they want a deal on demarcating the boundaries “soon”. Significantly, this was the first official visit to China by the Bhutanese Foreign Minister, and holding the long pending 25th round of talks indicated substantive progress had been made by the expert groups of officials from both countries.
The boundary talks were led by Dr. Dorji, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Bhutan, and Sun Weidong, Vice Foreign Minister of China, who signed a “Cooperation Agreement” between both countries outlining the functioning of a Joint Technical Team (JTT) on the “Delimitation and Demarcation of the Bhutan-China Boundary”, that had been agreed to in August this year, a joint press release issued in Beijing and Thimphu said. Dr. Dorji was accompanied by Bhutanese Ambassador to India Maj. Gen. (Retd.) V. Namgyel and Bhutanese Foreign Secretary Pema Choden.
Statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry
According to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry after Dr. Dorji’s meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister Tuesday, Wang also expressed the hope that the two countries would establish diplomatic relations, something Bhutan has held out on thus far, as it does not have ties with any UN Security Council Permanent Member (P-5) country.
“The conclusion of boundary negotiations and the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Bhutan fully serve the long-term and fundamental interests of the country and nation of Bhutan,” Foreign Minister Wang, who is also a Politburo member and Director of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission, said, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) statement.
India’s concerns
India has said in the past it “very closely follows” the talks as it pertains to its security, especially near the trijunction point near Doklam, the Ministry of External Affairs did not comment on the Bhutan Foreign Minister’s visit to China.
Experts in India have said any deal between Beijing and Thimphu that accedes to a “swap arrangement” between areas to the north (Jamparlung and Pasamlung valleys) with Doklam to the west would be of concern to India, given the proximity to India’s narrow “Siliguri corridor” that connects the north-eastern States with the rest of India. India and China were involved in a stand-off in Doklam near the India-China-Bhutan trijunction in 2017, and border tensions have remained high since 2020 after the Chinese troops transgressed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). However, Bhutan’s Prime Minister Dr. Tshering and Foreign Minister Dr. Dorji have said in interviews that no agreement would be made “against India’s interests”, and clarified that any talks about the “trijunction” at Doklam would only be held trilaterally between India, Bhutan and China.
Bhutanese Prime Minister Dr. Lotay Tshering had earlier disclosed that the two countries were “inching towards the completion” of a three-step road map on boundary delineation, that includes agreeing to the demarcation of the border in talks on the table, visiting the sites along the demarcated line on the ground, before finally and formally demarcating the boundary between them. “We hope to see a line being drawn — this side Bhutan and that side China. We don’t have that right now,” Dr. Tshering said.
Bhutan foreign minister’s visit unprecedented on several levels
Writing about the development, The Hindu writes the visit of Bhutan Foreign Minister to China, “was unprecedented on several levels. Bhutan and China do not maintain diplomatic relations. His visit is the first ever by a Bhutanese Foreign Minister. Moreover, the main purpose was the holding of boundary talks that have not taken place in more than seven years. The talks appeared to yield substantive progress, according to a joint statement, with both countries having also signed a cooperation agreement outlining the functioning of a new joint technical team for the delimitation and demarcation of the boundary. In the talks with Dr. Dorji, the Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, called for both sides to soon establish diplomatic relations and to conclude their boundary negotiations.
“It is true that India, given its special relationship with Bhutan, has been very wary about the possibility of the establishment of diplomatic relations and the signing of a boundary agreement. But both those outcomes increasingly appear inevitable…”
India’s red line: Given Bhutan’s unique dependence on India, there is little doubt that it will have taken New Delhi on board in its efforts to normalise relations with China, in return guaranteeing India’s security interests and red lines. One such red line will involve keeping China away from southern Doklam’s ridges that overlook India’s ‘Siliguri corridor’, even as Beijing and Thimphu consider a ‘swap’ between territories in the valleys of the north, where Bhutan is coming under intense Chinese pressure, and on the Doklam plateau in the west. A second line will likely involve Thimphu going slow on normalising ties and opening itself up to a permanent Chinese diplomatic presence, while continuing with border talks….”
India wary of the China-Bhutan bonhomie
“India has every reason to be wary of the China-Bhutan bonhomie,” writes The Tribune in its editorial. According to a recent Pentagon report, China built underground storage facilities near Doklam and raised villages in disputed areas in Bhutan last year. The Doklam tri-junction had witnessed a tense standoff in 2017 after the Chinese military started building a road close to the Siliguri Corridor (‘Chicken Neck’), which connects the North-East to the rest of India. Citing security concerns, India had raised a strong objection, forcing China to drop its plan. In recent years, Beijing has been actively trying to win over Thimphu, coming up with a three-step roadmap to settle the boundary row. Though China claims that it ‘respects Bhutan’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity’, its military posturing in the neighbourhood leaves no room for doubt about its expansionist designs."
India should not expect acquiescence from Bhutan
In the circumstance, The Hindu suggests “India’s interests, according to the paper “are better served by taking Bhutan on board and aligning strategies rather than by expecting acquiescence from a sovereign nation that will understandably pursue its own. A border deal that addresses Bhutanese concerns in the north while preserving India’s red lines in the west will not necessarily undermine New Delhi’s interests. Rather than alarm, India must approach the boundary negotiations with a greater understanding of Bhutan’s reasoning, and with confidence that India’s long-trusted neighbour will take both India’s interests and its own into consideration before any final agreement.”
Three-step road map: Bhutan and China have held 24 rounds of boundary talks between 1984 and 2016, a dozen rounds of expert group meetings that yielded the three-step road map, and earlier this year held their first boundary delimitation talks by a joint technical team, indicating they are serious about an early conclusion of the process.
