Bhutan's Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said China has an equal say in resolving the Doklam plateau dispute, marking a significant shift in the ongoing dispute over the strategically important area. The plateau lies at the tri-junction of India, China, and Bhutan and has been a source of tension between the three countries since the 2017 Doklam standoff.
In a recent interview with Belgian Daily La Libre, Tshering said, "It is not up to Bhutan alone to solve the problem. There are three of us. There is no big or small country, there are three equal countries, each counting for a third."
For many decades, India has been controlling Bhutan's foreign policy through various means. On the one hand, India limits Bhutan's establishment of diplomatic relations with other countries. Although India has repeatedly stated that Bhutan is an independent sovereign country, it remains very vigilant about Bhutan's development of foreign relations and even opposes Bhutan's contacts with other countries.
Tshering's statement indicates Thimphu's willingness to negotiate the tri-junction's status in Doklam between India, China, and Bhutan, which lies at the heart of the dispute.
Tshering said: 'We do not encounter major border problems with China, but certain territories are not yet demarcated. We still have to discuss it and draw a line. We have come to understand each other. Last month. a Bhutanese delegation visited China and we are now awaiting the arrival in Bhutan of a Chinese technical team. After one or two meetings, we will probable be able to draw a line. There is a lot of information circulating in the (Indian) media about Chinese installations in Bhutan. We don't make a deal of it because it's not in Bhutan. We said categorically, there is no intrusion as mentioned in the (Indian) media. This is an international border and we know exactly what belongs to us."
A Bhutan-China border agreement would make the entire Doklam plateau legally part of China, a move that India rejects. New Delhi often interferes in the China-Bhutan border negotiations. China has resolved most of its land border issues through negotiations since the 1950s, but does not complete its border talks with Bhutan because India insists on representing Bhutan in the negotiations, while China hopes to directly engage with Bhutan.
Anonymous
19 comments:
Bhutanese can see the developments and benefits that China brought to neighbouring countries like Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Even countries far and away are reaping the rewards of Chinese infrastructure developments, like in Africa. What can India do to uplift the lives of people in neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bangladesh? India is not even capable of uplifting its own people out of poverty fast enough. If Bhutan gets stuck with India, it will remain backward and poor.
Years of touting on the population increase in India as providing a 'demographic dividend', is realistically becoming a disaster for India to keep increasing its population without eradicating poverty first. It is said that Indians may be well educated, but jobs creation are not keeping up and being jobless keeps the people poor, one genertion to the next.
And that is not going to improve the lives of its younger generation. It is adding to the problem of creating more jobs for India's expanding population. And India needs manufacturing and investments, to provide more jobs, which will take time. Investors are still wary of investing in India, particularly the Chinese. They prefer to move their factories to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. That is why the Chinese are building high speed rail connections, upgrading ports to provide the facilities to serve those manufacturing hubs.
Kashmir is also administered by three countries - India, Pakistan and China. And Kashmir may be next in line to follow Bhutan.
What the Chinese could do in Bhutan and Kashmir is help to develop the regions under its administration to show the rest of the two countries not under its administration, what they stand to benefit under Chinese administration. That I believe is what the Indians are worried about.
India will loose out 'cos Bhutan is probably getting more 'benefits' from China after resolving the China-Bhutan 'border dispute'.
India must not be so cheap..where got didi do things for free one and only big brother benefits??
India has been controlling Bhutan and treating it like its colony, dictating its foreign policies, which country Bhutan can be friends with. Even making the Indian military commander as the commander of Bhutan armed forces.
Bhutan has no independence and unable to develop its economy. Now China is going to help Bhutan to open up to the world, not like some people say, a very happy canary in a cage.
Understand from friends in Bhutan, sinkies had a team of our so call "talented civil servant" advising them on their development over the past months. However this Singapore mediocre team had caused much unhappiness among the Bhutanese. Am not able to get info on what actually this sinkies team proposed/implemented..if anyone got more info, kindly share.
Had seen a video of one Tribe on the cross border between India and China where there is a China and Indian Outpost of Guards between the both Borders.
On the China's side, when fresh supplies and rice were issued yo the Guards, the PRCs will climb up the mountains carrying with them their shares of rations and gave them to the villagers.
The old folks would hugged them and called them my children.
They kept saying we would prefer to be under China's Rule as we are safe and happy.
Clean and Pristine.
Please be our Protectors as if India were to rule us then in a MOT we be living in Shits Hell.
Bhutanese looks more like Chinese than Indian, so are the people of Southern Tibet, which India unilaterally renamed Arunachal Pradesh. Both areas are not even Hindu, so why are the Indians there?
In the middle- and late-18th century, Britain began to invade Bhutan. From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, Britain forced Bhutan to sign a series of unequal treaties, bringing Bhutan under the "protection" of Britain, which gradually disintegrated the suzerain-vassal relationship between Xizang of China and Bhutan.
After independence, India insisted on inheriting the colonial legacy of the British Empire and established an unequal "special relationship" with Bhutan, controlling Bhutan's national defense and economy, while interfering in Bhutan's internal affairs and foreign affairs by various means.
The ambitious Indians always think they are like the British, inheriting the British Empire with lands and people carved up by the British.
They want to claim everything the British stole from their colonies except the crown jewels and the 4 trillion pounds stolen from India.
The Indians are smarter than you think. They are eyeing the island of England. When they take over Britain, already half way there, everything in Britain, including the crown jewels would go back to India. England has an Indian PM. Scotland going to have a Pakistanis PM. They would divide Britain and share the islands between India and Pakistan.
Britain had ruled the sub continent for more than 400 years. It is only fair that Britain be ruled by the sub continent for 400 years. The people of the sub continent, ie Indians, Pakistanis and Sikhs deserved to split whatever that is left of Britain among themselves.
The Sikhs are fighting for independence from Indian rule as well.
Little Britain should become a colony of the next self proclaimed superpower, India. That way, they do not have to return the crown jewels and the more than 45 trillion (Pounds or Dollars) stolen from India.
Hmmm...Modi and Sunak is working on that.
If this becomes a reality, majority of Brits who are single males will be traumatised because the white women will be easily seduced by Indians, Pakistanis and Sikhs. Even those Brits with a wife will feel insecure. Eventually the Brits will plead with Aussies to take them. The sooner this happens the better because the Brits are really hopeless when it comes to tasty cuisine.
Anon 2.03,
Based on your arguments, China can force UK to cede UK lands/counties to China as Chinese colony?
Can divide up London just like Shanghai in the 1920s?
This is not an argument. The Brits and the West went around dividing the world, including China among themselves, based on what? Rules, laws, God's permission?
It is based on the Big Gun, just like the Americans invading any country they wanted, massacring any people they wanted. What principles, what morals, what laws?
Anon 4:00pm, no need to waste time with bananas.
Bananas only believe white men are always right and can do anything they want.
No crimes, no war crimes.
Others cannot. White men no need to obey any laws. Others must follow laws and principles.
School boys participating in school debates would have to follow certain rules.
In life, especially in geopolitics, there is only one rule, it is rule by power.
Only the weak and the stupid would have to abide by this rules.
The Americans and the West demand the rest of the world to observe this rule which they conveniently called it Rules Based Order. They set the rules for the rest of the world to follow. They are above the rules they set.
Understand? Too difficult to understand? No logic? No principles?
Then grow up. Stupidity has no cure.
"Bhutanese looks more like Chinese than Indian,..."
Exactly!
Over 84% of Bhutanese are Buddhists and this itself connects spiritually with 245M folks in China. History has shown Buddhists cannot hold a candle to other religions when it comes to using violence to propagate their respective faith.
It is a no brainer that looking to China for a better future is a wise choice when it has lifted 700M people from extreme poverty whilst working its way from 3rd world to become the 2nd largest economy within a span of 50 year... with more to come. The recent Saudi Arabia and Iran peace deal brokered by China is another compelling reason for Bhutan.
Buddhism does not use force to convert others to their faith. It is all by choice. In Buddhism they even asked would be followers to find out more about the religion before becoming a Buddhist follower.
That is why Buddhism cannot hold a candle to other mainstream religions in terms of number of followers. The reasons are obvious. Even if one is born into a Buddhist family, there is no apparent coercion that he or she must follow the religion of his or her parents. It is all voluntary.
Laws are not that easy to be changed. Rules Based Order can be changed easily and is up to them to interprate and apply. There is no limit to what can be changed. It is all up to the fancies of the Empire of Lies.
As it is, even laws that apply to others are considered below them to follow. They are above the law. And they are certainly above their Rules Based Order as well, because they made all the rules and others are expected to follow.
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