PM Modi’s Visit Honours India’s Special Bond with Bhutan

Amid the drifting winds of geopolitics, one thing has remained a constant in the India-subcontinent. The consistency of the long-standing Bharat-Bhutan relations anchored in mutual trust, goodwill and understanding.

The recent back-to-back visits between the leaders of both countries within a span of less than 10 days invariably hint at an exigency and solemnity. After assuming office in January 2024, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay embarked on a five-day visit to India in line with traditional keeping between both countries on March 14. Accompanied by a delegation of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, trade, industry and other senior officials, besides holding restricted and delegate level meetings with PM Modi, Bhutan PM Tobgay met business leaders of India at Mumbai¹.

Honouring the invitation of the Bhutanese King, PM Modi announced a two-day visit to the Land of Druk amid the thick of electioneering. This marked departure, of heading on a foreign visit after the announcement of general elections, a rarity, signifies the importance India attaches to Bhutan. Besides the political mileage, the government is equally focused on the strategic importance of the powerplay in the precarious Himalayan contours. Within India’s neighbourhood, Bhutan occupies a special position both in terms of relationship and national and security interests. The security interests of India and Bhutan are deeply intertwined.

Cherishing the special relations, PM Modi who began both his terms by making his first visits to Bhutan has made his last foreign trip in the second term to the Land of Druk. The high-level visits which began with the Foreign Secretary’s visit to Bhutan immediately after elections are now followed up by PM Modi. It is no secret that the elephant in the room in the conservations between India and Bhutan is undoubtedly China.

Being a guided democracy with a constitutional monarchy in charge of defence, security and economy, the fundamentals of the foreign policy are largely unchanged. Clearly, the foundation of India-Bhutan relations is the India-Bhutan friendship treaties of 1949 and 2007. Unlike the countries in the neighbourhood, besotted by ‘small country syndrome’, Bhutan sandwiched between two emerging powers has refrained from the hedging game. The successive Druks, perceptive of Mao’s five-fingers policy have maintained a continuity in foreign policy. Communist China embraced warlord Zhao Erfeng’s dream of controlling Tibet which is the putative right-hand palm along with the five fingers- Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nepal and Bhutan on its periphery.  

Aware of China’s ambitious territorial claims to the entire Himalayan terrain and after the 1962 Indo-China war, Bhutan has made amendments to its isolationist policy. In 1971 Bhutan became a UN member and recognised PRC but didn’t establish diplomatic relations. China has always been forbidding about India’s primacy in Bhutan’s foreign policy. As per some records, Bhutan and China held the first bilateral talks in 1981. The border talks between both countries over the largely un-demarcated region between Tibet and Bhutan began in 1984. As of October 2023, Bhutan and China held 25 rounds of talks and 13 Expert Group Meetings (EGMs). In October 2021, Bhutan and China signed a Three-Step Roadmap (TSR) and at the 13^th EGM held in October 2023, the countries agreed to set up a Joint Technical Team (JTT) for delimitation of the border between both countries.

The official boundary talks have been an attempt to create an illusion of formal, negotiations as Beijing has been surreptitiously salami-slicing Bhutan’s territory in the North by sending herders for grazing. Bhutan has been test-case for China’s aggressive incursion tactics. Giving into China's unrelenting claims, Bhutan has voluntarily relinquished its control to the Kula Khari area in the north citing Cartographic error².

In 1996 China offered a ‘package deal’ of ceding claims to the uninhabited and glaciated Pasamlung and Jakarlung areas of 495 sq. km territory in favour of a strategically important watershed 269 sq. km region in the West comprising parts of Doklam, Charithang, Dramana and Shakhatoe. Eyeing easy access to the Indian Ocean Region through the Chicken Neck Siliguri region, China has cajoled Bhutan. Sentient of India’s national interests, Bhutan turned down the offer.

Siliguri is pivotal for India’s territorial security and serves as the connecting bridge between Mainland India and the Northeastern region. Leveraging Doklam China wants to put India on the back foot. Doklam overlooks the Siliguri region. Chinese access to this region can put India on the defensive.

Through the boundary talks, Bhutan has explicitly reiterated that they are largely restricted to the northern territories of Bhutan with the demarcation of the Doklam to be resolved by all the three parties- India, Bhutan and China. China’s nefarious attempts to build roads up to the Jhampheri Ridge adjoining the Doklam trijunction has triggered the 73-day Doklam standoff. Insidious incursions into the Doklam trijunction have completely exposed the expansionist strategy of China. It was also an indirect attempt to drive a wedge between India and Bhutan by exerting pressure on the smaller country.

To coerce Bhutan, in June 2020, China laid claims to the 650 sq. km Sakteng sanctuary in Trashigang district which abuts the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. Bhutan vociferously refuted these claims and successfully frustrated Chinese attempts. Subsequently, Bhutan and China expedited boundary talks. In 2023, both countries held 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th EGM. Apprising the details of the mechanism, King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk visited India twice last year- April 2023 and November 2023.

As is Chinese won't, alongside the boundary negotiations, Beijing has intensified its stealthy incursions into Bhutan. Besides, intensifying the infrastructure development close to the Doklam region, as a part of the Xiaokong or ‘Moderate Prosperity Border Village Programme’ of President Xi Jinping, China is rapidly constructing new villages as far as 3 km inside Bhutan territory.

South China Morning Post reported that on December 28, 2023, 38 households from Tibet’s Shigatse have moved to the newly constructed Tamalung village³. Satellite images also confirmed the doubling of constructions in the expanded village which are now doubling as ‘citadels’- to strengthen border security and poverty alleviation. Similarly, another village adjacent to Tamalung, Gyalaphug village has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of dwellings.

In contravention of the first peace agreement between countries in 1998 that recognised Bhutan as a sovereign country- “Maintain Peace and Tranquillity on the Bhutan-China Border Areas”, and desisted the unilateral change to the border status quo, China is transgressing the borders. After the 1998 agreement, China has insisted on expanding engagement, especially towards developing trade and formal diplomatic relations.

Subsequently, China made inroads into Bhutan and continues to dominate the crucial telecom sector. Huawei has been operating in Bhutan since 2009. Currently, China accounts for a quarter of Bhutan’s trade. Weaponising trade and tourism, China is exerting tremendous pressure on Bhutan to establish formal diplomatic ties.

Bhutan is to India what Tibet is to China. India is challenging China by standing up to its bullying tactics. Beijing considers Bhutan as India’s soft underbelly. Having adopted a no-holds-barred approach, China is going ballistic by unleashing a previously subdued ambitious expansionist agenda. China is provoking the Philippines in the South China Sea, intensifying drills along the Taiwan Straits, increasing intrusions into the Sea of Japan, making forays into the Indian Ocean and prolonging de-escalation along the LAC. Hence, expectedly the China angle is prominently finding space in India-Bhutan relations.

The post-COVID recovery of Bhutan’s economy is rather tepid with the country witnessing slow growth, high inflation, high urban youth unemployment and growing “outmigration” of the working population to the most favoured destination- India followed by Australia. Foreign reserves are dwindling barely meeting the mandated constitutional requirement to cover 12 months of essential imports⁴. The government has indeed, imposed a ban on vehicle imports to maintain adequate reserves.

Avowedly committed to green economy and sustainability, striking a balance between the conservation agenda and economic recovery, Bhutan King launched the “Gelephu Mindfulness City” in December 2023, a separate administrative zone with investor-friendly laws. Planned along the lines of Saudi’s Neom and Indonesia’s Nusantara, the Gelephu lying along the Assam border is landlocked. Hence Bhutan is primarily dependent on India regarding infrastructure for trade and transport. During high-level reciprocal visits, leaders of both countries reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral cooperation and regional issues of mutual interest⁵.

Countries have initiated and launched projects that are in line with the Indian aspirations of becoming a developed country by 2047 and Bhutan’s vision of progressing into a high-income nation by 2034. India hailed Bhutan’s vision of the Gelephu Mindful City and promised to support the initiative that adeptly integrates the goal of economic prosperity in a sustainable manner to strengthen economic and investment linkages.

To propel investments and connectivity, particularly to prop up Gelephu as an investment destination, countries have initialled a text for MoU on the establishment of Kokrajhar in Assam to Gelephu and Banarhat - Samtse rail links. Countries have opened additional points for immigration and trading routes. Ahead of Bhutan PM Tobgay’s India visit, Bhutan announced interest in rejoining the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India- Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement (BBIN-MVA).

Both sides signed a slew of MoUs including those for the supply of Petroleum, oil, Lubricants (POL) -from India to Bhutan; recognition of products by the regulatory agencies- Bhutan Food & Drug Authority (BFDA) and Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI); cooperation in sports and youth, space cooperation, pharmacopoeia, peering agreement between National Knowledge Network of India (NKN) and Druk Research and Educational Network. In tune with green economy objectives, a cooperation agreement is signed on energy efficiency and energy conservation measures through capacity development, information exchange on policies, research and technologies⁶.

PM Modi congratulated Bhutan for graduating from Least Developed Countries in December 2023 and pledged Rs 10,000 crores over the next five years. Bhutan thanked India for the Rs 5000 crore development assistance to its 12^th Five Year Plan (FYP). India’s economic stimulus would include the development of infrastructure for the seamless movement of goods and services; enhancing rail, air, digital connectivity and in agriculture, healthcare, education, startups, STEM, skilling and cultural preservation, education sector.

During PM Modi’s visit, countries have forged an energy partnership giving a huge fillip to the hydropower cooperation, a vital pillar of bilateral economic partnership. The partnership besides providing necessary access to financing and financial institutions for power sale, sub-regional energy cooperation will enable seamless cross-border trade in electricity⁷.

Hydropower cooperation has been an important pillar of the India-Bhutan bilateral economic partnership. Now countries have agreed to expand cooperation to non-hydro renewables like solar, wind and green initiatives for hydrogen and e-mobility and called for expeditious consultation on the planned projects- 1020 MW Punatshangchhu-II.

Unlike the coercive mercantilist relationship of the Northern neighbour, the guiding mantra of Bharat-Bhutan ties is mutual benefit. The developmental partnership is a happy confluence of “sabka saath, sabka vishwas, sabka prayas” and Gross National Happiness. The exemplary friendly ties have been a source of strength for both countries which have agreed to continue close coordination and cooperation with each other on issues related to national interests. 

The enduring partnership anchored in common values as well as shared cultural and spiritual heritage has now incorporated the doctrine of “Together for Progress and Development”. In recognition of PM Modi’s contribution to strengthening India-Bhutan ties, the Order of Druk Gyalpo, the highest civilian decoration announced in December 2021 during Bhutan’s 114^th National Day Celebrations was presented by Bhutan King Jigme Keshar at a ceremony in Thendrelthang, Thimphu ⁸. Reinforcing that Bharat for Bhutan and Bhutan for Bharat is an abiding reality, PM Modi pledged India’s commitment to a transformative partnership with Bhutan.

The long-standing exceptional bilateral ties between India and Bhutan is a touchstone of India’s Neighbourhood First policy. In appreciation of Modi’s State Visit amid domestic commitments and crucial elections, Bhutan PM Tobgay received him at the airport and extended an exceptional warm ceremonial welcome. Indeed, Bhutan people lined up along the entire stretch of 45km from Paro to Thimpu. In a first for an Indian Prime Minister, the Royal Family has hosted PM Modi at K5 residence, Lingkana Palace for a private dinner. As a special gesture, the King of Bhutan and Bhutan's PM came to see off PM Modi at the airport.

Invoking civilisational ties and historical links India is bolstering friendships and cementing economic and development partnership with the immediate neighbourhood. India is stymieing Chinese overtures with mutual understanding and goodwill.

In a post on X, PM Tobgay wrote, “A big thank you to my brother, PM @narendramodi Ji, for visiting us. Neither his busy schedule nor inclement weather could prevent him from fulfilling his promise to visit us. This must be #ModiKaGuarantee phenomenon!”. By standing with Bhutan in the wake of Chinese intimidation, India has signalled its commitment to promoting the interests of neighbours and adherence to Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR). India’s timely economic support to Sri Lanka and steadfast relationship with Bangladesh is a case in point.

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