{"id":9960,"date":"2020-12-15T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2020-12-15T13:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/?p=9960"},"modified":"2022-01-18T10:09:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-18T15:09:03","slug":"china-pushes-borders-into-areas-of-bhutan-straining-relations-and-risking-dispute-with-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2020\/12\/15\/china-pushes-borders-into-areas-of-bhutan-straining-relations-and-risking-dispute-with-india\/","title":{"rendered":"China Pushes Borders into Areas of Bhutan, Straining Relations and Risking Dispute with India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jasmine DeLeon
\n<\/strong>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n

In early October, China completed the construction of Pangda, a village of 100 people near the Torsa River in the Himalayas. Pangda is situated in Bhutan, a small Buddhist kingdom of 800,000 that borders southwest China. The construction of Pangda, as well as other Chinese territorial claims to Bhutan, adds further strain on already sensitive Sino-Bhutanese and Sino-Indian relations.<\/p>\n

According to The New York Times<\/a>, Pangda is located near the Doklam Plateau, the site of clashes between Chinese and Indian troops in 2017. These clashes started when China began the \u00a0construction of a road into Bhutanese territory and India stepped in on behalf of Bhutan based on a security pact between the two countries. While Bhutan has close diplomatic ties with India, The Economic Times<\/a> explains that Bhutan has evaded Chinese attempts to establish diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n

Maxar Technologies, a space technology company based in Colorado, captured satellite images showing that China began constructing Pangda late last year and finished before National Day on October 1, reports The New York Times.<\/u> More recent satellite images show that China may be preparing to make a move on the Doklam Plateau. TRT World<\/a> states that Maxar Technologies captured satellite images that show \u201cnew military storage bunkers\u201d seven kilometers away from Doklam.<\/p>\n

The Doklam Plateau is an area of strategic concern for both India and China. According to the Asia Times<\/a>, adding Doklam to Chinese territory would give China wider access to the Chumbi Valley, which is between western Bhutan and India. TRT World also reports that the Chumbi Valley gives China the ability to cut off India\u2019s Siliguri Corridor as well. The Siliguri Corridor, which India calls the \u201cChicken\u2019s Neck,\u201d is the only land connection between India and its eight northeastern states, making it an important strategic area for India.<\/p>\n

In June, China made its first claim to Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, a national park located in eastern Bhutan. However, China\u2019s claim was rejected by Bhutan. According to BBC<\/a> News<\/a>, the 25th boundary discussion between the two countries was postponed this year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Boundary discussions between the two nations \u00a0have been going on since 1984.<\/p>\n

In July, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated \u201cThe boundary between China and Bhutan is yet to be demarcated, and the middle, eastern and western sections of the border are disputed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chinese maps do not reflect the country\u2019s territorial claim to the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary. M. Taylor Fravel, Director of MIT\u2019s Security Studies Program for the Center of International Studies and author of \u201cActive Defense: China’s Military Strategy Since 1949,\u201d tweeted<\/a> about how Chinese maps show that the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary and its surrounding areas are located in Bhutan territory, and have shown that since 1962.<\/p>\n

The building of Pangda and Chinese claims to Sakteng and surrounding areas are part of a larger pattern of territorial disputes by China in the Himalayas in connection with India. Over the summer, China engaged in a violent interaction with India over disputed frontier territory in the Galwan Valley. In June, Chinese and Indian troops clashed at the Himalayan border, which The New York Times<\/a> <\/u>\u00a0describes as the worst incident of violence between the two countries since the 1960s. Twenty Indian troops died during the clash in June while Chinese casualties remained unknown, leading to. protests in India against China.<\/p>\n

Since the conflict, both China and India have been rushing reinforcements and supplies into the area. In September, Wang Yi, China\u2019s foreign minister, and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, India\u2019s foreign minister, issued a statement pledging to \u201ccontinue dialogue to disengage as quickly as possible,\u201d reports The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Abraham Denmark, Director of the Asia Program at The Wilson Center, said that the conflict in June \u201cwill likely be a watershed moment in India-China relations and the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific… Both countries are led by men who have embraced nationalism, and both countries are facing tremendous domestic and international upheaval as a result of COVID-19 and other long-standing problems,\u201d reports AP<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In early October, China completed the construction of Pangda, a village of 100 people near the Torsa River in the Himalayas. Pangda is situated in Bhutan, a small Buddhist kingdom of 800,000 that borders southwest China. The construction of Pangda, as well as other Chinese territorial claims to Bhutan, adds further strain on already sensitive Sino-Bhutanese and Sino-Indian relations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5105,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075,382,386,1862],"tags":[393,470,2086,2087],"class_list":["post-9960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-december-2020","category-international-news","category-asia","category-1862","tag-china","tag-india","tag-bhutan","tag-border-dispute"],"yoast_head":"\nChina Pushes Borders into Areas of Bhutan, Straining Relations and Risking Dispute with India - The Diplomatic Envoy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/thediplomaticenvoy\/2020\/12\/15\/china-pushes-borders-into-areas-of-bhutan-straining-relations-and-risking-dispute-with-india\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China Pushes Borders into Areas of Bhutan, Straining Relations and Risking Dispute with India - The Diplomatic Envoy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In early October, China completed the construction of Pangda, a village of 100 people near the Torsa River in the Himalayas. 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