Bhutan Refuses to Bite Chinese Bullet

Bhutan King Jigme Kesar Namgyel Wangchuk is on an eight-day-long visit to India. Duly received by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at Guwahati on November 3. King Jigme offered prayers at Maa Kamakhya Temple, interacted with the Bhutanese Diaspora, and took a jeep safari to the World Heritage Kaziranga National Park during his first leg of the visit to India. EAM Jaishankar called on King Jigme after his touchdown in New Delhi and this was followed by the official level delegation talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From New Delhi, King Jigme will travel to Maharashtra.

While the world is engrossed with the events in the Middle East, China’s quick-paced boundary talks with Bhutan that have potential geopolitical implication in the immediate neighbourhood has kept India on tenterhooks. On October 25, concluding the 25th round of border talks in Beijing, Bhutan and China signed a cooperation agreement on the roles and responsibilities of the Joint Technical Team (JTT) on delimitation and demarcation of the boundary.

The Bhutan delegation led by Bhutan Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji met Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong, former Ambassador to India, who in his previous stint made a quiet visit to Bhutan in 2019. Weidong met Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering and conveyed China’s keen interest in strengthening cooperation with Bhutan, especially in tourism. Since the 73-day Doklam standoff when Bhutan openly sided with India, China has been rejuvenating attempts to woo Bhutan.

Dorji also met Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng who emphasised the establishment of diplomatic ties between both countries and acceleration of the boundary demarcation process. He also held talks with Foreign Minister and member of the Political Bureau of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) Wang Yi who again reiterated the restoration of diplomatic ties to serve the interests of both countries. Dorji conveyed Bhutan’s support to the One China Policy and willingness for resettlement of boundary issues.

By entwining diplomatic relations with trade and economic cooperation, China has penetrated India’s immediate neighbourhood with the sole exception of Bhutan. All Indian neighbours except Bhutan have joined BRI. As a matter of policy, Bhutan doesn’t have any diplomatic ties with the permanent five which includes China. Bhutan has diplomatic ties with 54 of 193 countries and hosts three foreign embassies- India, Bangladesh and Kuwait and four consulates. The tearing urgency in the Chinese engagement of Bhutan after an eight-year hiatus reeked of coercive statecraft.

Both countries commenced boundary talks in 1984. As of October 2021, Bhutan and China held 24 rounds of boundary talks and 10 rounds of Expert Group Meetings (EGM). After the 24th round of boundary talks, countries virtually signed an MoU on the Three-Step Roadmap (TSR) for expediting border talks. The recently concluded talks are a continuum of China’s renewed engagement with Bhutan. With an eye on India, China is wooing Bhutan.

Chinese intentions of infringing on India’s sovereignty can be traced back to the 1962 War, which is a work in progress with the Dragon making insidious attempts relentlessly to keep India on the boil both internally and externally. Igniting the Naxal movement the CCP stoked internal disturbances and the unabated salami slicing at the borders more pronounced and aggressive in recent years China became an inveterate adversary of India.

Post-Doklam, China has shifted focus to Bhutan to needle India. Towing a maximalist position, to intimidate Bhutan, in 2021 Beijing laid claims to Sakteng Wild Life Sanctuary in Eastern Bhutan bordering Arunachal Pradesh. But Bhutan defiantly opposed Chinese moves to officially register these claims. Chinese sinister claims to Sakteng stem from the fact that the sanctuary can be accessed only through the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh which China mischievously refers to as Southern Tibet and has recently included it in the newly released maps.  Refusing to yield to Chinese intimidation and its attempts to change the goalpost, Bhutan during EGMs insisted removal of reference to Sakteng and Gyamochen¹(As per the insider details cited by StratNewsGlobal) during official negotiations.

Bhutan also demanded that the demarcation of the boundary should start from Batang La as opposed to Gyamochen which is downstream of the Doklam trijunction. Adept at wielding carrot-and-stick diplomacy, Bhutan's refusal to budge from its stance on boundary issues has forced China to change its approach towards Thimphu.

India and Bhutan share a unique relationship and are treaty-bound as per the 1949 Friendship Treaty which has laid out that Bhutan has agreed, “to be guided by the advice of government of India in regard to its external relations”. Even the revised 2007 treaty explicitly outlines the commitment of both countries to “cooperate closely with each other on the issues relating to the national interests”. Indian territorial interests are closely tied to Bhutan. The Doklam tri-junction is very close to India’s Siliguri Corridor also called the Chicken’s Neck, the narrow land strip that connects mainland India to the North East region.

For years, China has been nibbling away Bhutan’s territory and with the construction of military infrastructure and roads near Doklam, China has attempted to choke the strategically important Siliguri Corridor in 2017. While India has thwarted Chinese attempts, China has been encroaching on Bhutan’s Western sector and regions in the North to ratchet pressure on Bhutan. Though Bhutan has officially dismissed the reports of Chinese encroachment, the latest satellite images indicated the presence of a permanent Chinese military structure close to Doklam. To gain control of Bhutan’s Western sector, China offered to swap 495 sq km in the North in lieu of 269 sq km in the Doklam sector. Cognizant of India’s strategic interests, Bhutan has turned down the proposal. Post-Tibetan annexation, China initially laid claims to nine sectors of Bhutan territory. Beijing has now narrowed it to two sectors. The ongoing boundary negotiations are expediting the demarcation of boundaries of these two sectors.

In an interview with Belgian news agency Le Libre in March, Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering stated, “Doklam is a junction point between India, China and Bhutan. 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”.  This implied that Bhutan and China could expedite the process of demarcating the borders in other sectors but Bhutan treaty-bound to respect Indian interests would refrain from any negotiations pertaining to the Western sector.

Notwithstanding China's propaganda machinery lamentations of- “How India tries to interfere in and take control of Bhutan”, Thimphu has always apprised New Delhi of the boundary talks. King Jigme who is on his second visit to India this year has understandably updated New Delhi on the progress of boundary talks with China. King Jigme visited India earlier in April in the aftermath of PM Tshering’s interview and the Bhutan-China 11th Expert Group Meeting at Kunming.

China’s pretence of peaceful border negotiations with Bhutan comes at a time when Beijing is facing Western ire for its muscle flexing and numerous episodes of collisions with Philippines vessels in the South China Sea and several aerial interceptions with American and Canadian jets. With global strategic discourse dominated by the Israel-Hamas war and the Ukraine conflict, China is attempting to tighten the noose around India and intimidate Taiwan. Sadly, China’s engagement with Bhutan is ill-timed. The Bhutanese populace who complained about over-dependence on India earlier is conceited about Thimpu’s decision to prioritise India, especially in the wake of waning global interest in Chinese initiatives and the withdrawal of Italy and the Philippines from BRI.

During the bilateral talks, Modi reaffirmed India’s commitment to its “unique ties of friendship and cooperation with Bhutan and reiterated continued and full support to the socio-economic development in Bhutan based on the priorities of the Royal Government and as per the vision of His Majesty”. India and Bhutan enjoy “long-standing exceptional bilateral relations characterised by utmost trust, goodwill and mutual understanding at all levels” and reflecting this spirit, countries are diversifying areas of cooperation. These include- trade, technology, health, environment conservation, cross-border connectivity, mutual investments and people-to-people relations.

Hydropower cooperation is one of the main pillars of the India-Bhutan economic partnership. Heralding a new chapter in energy cooperation, countries are now extending the hydro cooperation to non-hydro renewables including solar and green initiatives for e-mobility.

In sync with King Jigme’s vision of transforming Gelephu into a smart city, countries have agreed to upgrade facilities at the existing Integrated Check Points (ICPs) and designated two additional checkpoints Darranga (Assam) and Samdrup Jongkhar (Bhutan) as ICPs. Along with seamless entry and exit, ICPs facilitate trade and tourism. Simultaneously countries are expediting consultations on the proposal for cross-border connectivity between Kokrajhar in Assam to Gelephu in Bhutan along with a rail connection between Banarhat (West Bengal) to Samte (Bhutan). India is considering Bhutan’s request for concessional financing in skill development and capacity building. New Delhi has approved to designate Haldibari (West Bengal)-Chilahati (Bangladesh) rail route for Bhutan’s trade with Bangladesh.

STEM education, space, and startups are now prominently emerging as vital sectors for new partnerships. Giving a fillip to this partnership, India is doubling the outlay under the Ambassador’s scholarship for Bhutan students. India has now allocated additional seats to Bhutanese students to obtain quality education and training from Assam medical colleges².

Praising India’s G20 Summit for prioritising the interests of the Global South countries, King Jigme thanked India for developmental assistance for Bhutan’s 12th Five Year Plan. India reiterated her commitment to step up support for Bhutan’s 13th Five-Year Plan.

India’s strategic altruistic partnership fostering interdependence sets it apart from the feckless debt trap diplomacy and cronyism of China. India's neighbours, small countries are increasingly appreciative of New Delhi’s support to the invaluable socioeconomic development. Unlike India’s mutually beneficial and development-oriented partnership, laced with treachery, subterfuge, deceit and aggression, China has attempted to subjugate countries. Bhutan’s reluctance to undermine Indian interests has posed a challenge to Beijing’s free run to checkmate India.

China is going the extra mile to woo Bhutan to establish diplomatic ties and open an embassy. Beijing is seeking a wiggle room to tacitly severe Bhutan’s umbilical relation with India.  Even if China continues to engage Bhutan in border negotiations, the elusive diplomatic relations will be a reality subject to the settlement of the boundary. Given China’s penchant for keeping the borders hot and India unstable, cracking the Thimphu barrier is never easy.

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