Bhutan’s location in the Himalayan region between the two major powers of China and India has its own set of repercussions. Despite this, Bhutan has yet to reach an agreement on its land border conflict with China, which it shares with only one other nation, India.
Bhutan is under increased pressure to resolve the conflict with China as a result of the ongoing disagreement between China and India over their Himalayan border and China’s growing global power. Any agreement, though, will need to be approved by Bhutan’s ally, India, with which it has a close relationship. Bhutan has received considerable financial and military support from India over the years.
Bhutan and China have continuous territorial conflicts in the Himalayan region, especially to the north and west. The strategic plateau of Doklam, which is close to the trijunction between India, Bhutan, and China, is the main point of contention. Due to the plateau’s importance for Indian security, Bhutan and China both claim the area, and India supports Bhutan’s claim. The Siliguri Corridor, a confined 22 km section that connects India’s mainland with its northeastern states and is referred to as the “Chicken’s Neck,” may be in danger if China gains control of the Doklam plateau. Prime Minister Lotay Tshering’s discussion with the Belgian publication La Libre recently highlighted Bhutan’s limitations in dealing with this issue.
According to reports, Bhutan’s Prime Minister Lotay Tshering emphasised that solving the border problem is not simply up to Bhutan as three equal countries are affected. He expressed willingness to discuss the issue as soon as the other countries involved are available. He also spoke of the hope that Bhutan and China, who have been disputing their borders since 1984, could settle some of their border concerns in a few sessions. He also denied any Chinese incursion into Bhutanese territory.
India is concerned that China is putting pressure on Bhutan to settle their boundary issue in order to cause difficulty for India, according to P Stobdan, a former senior Indian diplomat with knowledge of Himalayan politics. According to Stobdan, recent changes in Bhutan’s position towards China’s role in resolving the dispute suggest that they are attempting to expedite the process of settling their differences. However, Bhutan’s Prime Minister, Tshering, has since clarified that there is no change in Bhutan’s position regarding the dispute.
Bhutan appears to be neutral, but China thinks that without India’s support, Bhutan cannot come to an agreement. Senior fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies Liu Zongyi claims that India stands in the way of resolving the Bhutan-China boundary dispute. He argues that India scuttled a potential agreement between China and Bhutan in 1996 and that the ongoing India-China border tensions are related to the Bhutan-China dispute.
India and China share a long and contentious border that has yet to be properly defined. India considers its length to be 3,488 km, whereas China believes it to be around 2,000 kilometres. The de facto boundary begins in Ladakh and extends east to Arunachal Pradesh. Given China’s growing economic and military power, many Bhutanese are keen to reach an agreement. While India and Bhutan signed a special treaty in 1949, revised in 2007, that considers Delhi’s security concerns, Bhutan has more freedom in foreign policy and military purchases. India has deployed hundreds of soldiers inside Bhutan to train Bhutanese troops, and the two countries continue to work closely together to address their common national concerns, particularly security.
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