Dragon Bristles At India’s Defiance, But Makes Silent Inroads Into Bhutan

No bully, especially one as big and brash as China, likes to be defied. And that too very openly. But this is exactly what India, which Beijing perceives is a weakling, has been doing by not agreeing to withdraw Indian troops from the Dokhlam Plateau.

All the threats issued by China – the hints of an imminent attack on India, planting reports of a massive buildup of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops and military hardware across the border, talk of interfering in Kashmir on behalf of Pakistan, trying to pass off a routine military exercise as a preparation for war and reminding New Delhi of India’s ignominious defeat in 1962 – have failed to move India. This defiance has hurt Beijing’s massive ego terribly.

For expansionist China, whose policies are driven by the interests of its majoritarian and dominant Han people, being defied by a country it considers inferior economically, militarily and even racially is totally unacceptable. More so since India is proving to be a major thorn in Beijing’s bid to overwhelm and eventually smother the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan with its financial and military muscle. China, it may be mentioned here, refers to the boundaries of its medieaval imperial empires to lay claims to territories belonging to other countries; and hence its boundary disputes with South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, India and Bhutan.

Bhutan is the only neighbour of China with which it does not share a full fledged diplomatic relationship. The two countries conduct their diplomatic exchanges through the Chinese embassy in New Delhi. Bhutan and India signed a Treaty of Perpetual Peace & Friendship in 1949 through which Bhutan would be “guided by advice of the Government of India in regard to its external relations”. The 1949 treaty was replaced by the 2007 Indo-Bhutan Friendship Treaty which enjoins both countries to “cooperate closely on issues relating to national interests”.

China has been, for a long time now, been pressurising Thimpu to establish direct diplomatic relations with Beijing. But without much success. Bhutan continues to have very close ties with India and the armies of the two countries have fraternal ties with the Indian Army having a very strong presence in Bhutan in the form of the Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT).

This is another major irritant for China, which cannot quite accept being relegated to the sidelines in a country which, no matter how small it is, it believes should be within its sphere of influence. The fact that Bhutan pursues its foreign policy “in close cooperation” with India is an anathema to Beijing. Major Chinese publications, think-tanks, academics and intellectuals – all government-controlled, obviously – have been vociferously protesting India’s influence on Bhutan, an influence they hold should belong to China.

The Border Dispute

The border dispute between Bhutan and China is primarily due to the fact that Bhutan did not even have an official map of the country till 1971! Bhutan mapped its territory with help from India only in 1971. The kingdom also conducted its own surveys and checked tax records to bring out the final map of the country in 1989. New Delhi and Thimpu formally demarcated the 699-kilometre border between the two countries in 2006, but the 470-kilometre border with China has not been demarcated.

The claims and counterclaims between China and Bhutan involve 764 square kilometres of land. Beijing claims 495 square kilometres of territory in the Jakurlung and Pasamlung Valleys in north-central Bhutan and another 269 square kilometres (including the Dokhlam Plateau) in western Bhutan. The two countries held their first round of boundary talks in Beijing in April 1984. Since then, they have held 24 rounds of border talks.

Bhutan had been complaining about Chinese incursions and construction of roads in the disputed territories and the two countries signed an ‘Agreement on Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity in Bhutan-China Border Areas’ in 1998 committing to maintain status quo along the border. Bhutan has communicated to China that it would be willing to forego its claims to much of its territories in the north-central areas in exchange for China giving up its claims to the 269 square kilometres of territory in western Bhutan.

But Beijing is simply not interested in this trade off. And this is evidence of its evil intent against India. China is keen on building roads in the Dokhlam Plateau – an exercise that Royal Bhutanese Army (RBA) troops backed by Indian soldiers stopped them from doing last month – in a bid to “establish facts on the ground” that its interlocutors will then put forward as claims of the territory belonging to China during subsequent border talks.

The Dokhlam Plateau is of tremendous strategic importance for China. As has been pointed out in two earlier articles (this and this), if China gains control of Dokhlam, it will effectively push the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction further south and pose a grave risk to the fragile chicken’s neck corridor that connects North East to the rest of India. China’s actual intent is to gain strategic control over this vital tract of land and then use it to make India bend to its wishes.

But China Is Making Inroads Into Bhutan

China, however, has not been sitting idle. It has stepped up its charm offensive in Bhutan. China is offering attractive scholarships to Bhutan’s best and brightest to study in Chinese Universities. It is strengthening ties with Bhutan in the fields of culture, education and sports. It has been hosting a number of eminent personas from Bhutan and has promised to not only undertake massive infrastructure projects in that country, but also extend soft loans to Bhutan.

One of the latest symbols of China’s increasing footprint in Bhutan is the massive, 51.5 metre-high Buddha Dordenma statue that looms over Thimpu. Though it is said that the massive gilded statue of Bhagwan Buddha costing over $4.7 lakh (Rs 305 crore) is sponsored by a Chinese-origin Singaporean billionaire, it is widely believed that the businessman was simply fronting for the Chinese government. China is also footing a major part of the $100 millions (Rs 650 crore) Buddha park and other facilities amidst which the gigantic statue is set.

This project would have been a wonderful opportunity for India to strengthen its cultural and religious ties with Bhutan, say Indian diplomats. Bhutan offered the contract to build the statue to India, but India declined! India has also, of late, been sluggish in responding to Bhutan’s requests for aid and technical support in various fields. China, through its charm offensive, is creating a constituency of supporters among the Bhutanese. Many Bhutanese look upon China very favourably now and openly talk of how establishing strong ties with China can help their country’s infrastructure and economy.

New Delhi, thus, cannot afford to let ties with Bhutan drift. Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonstrated his intent in furthering ties with Bhutan when he made Thimpu his first overseas stop after assuming office in 2014. But that momentum has been allowed to drift by South Block. It is time the mandarins in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) pull up their socks and pay attention to Bhutan. The consequences for not doing so would be grave for India.