FACE-OFF IN

Indian troops intervened to block the path of Chinese Peoples

Liberation Army soldiers engaged in building road-works on the
Doklam plateau (Donglong), a strategically vital 269 sq. km.
BIGGEST FACE-OFF
patch of Bhutans territory that Beijing laid claim to in the 1980s.
IN DECADES
CHINA
India, China bolster in Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction
BHUTAN
INDIA
BH
UTA
N
WHY CHUMBI VALLEY IS KEY
Chinese activity in the Chumbi
Valley is of concern to India.
This is the rst The tri-junction stretch
time that India of the boundary at Sikkim, CHINA The dagger-shaped area is just above
Indias chicken neck, the strip of
used troops to thoughcontested, has Chumbi land than connects Indias northeast
protect Bhutans witnessed farfewer tensions SIKKIM Valley to the rest of the country
territorial interests. than the western sector of
the India-China boundary
INDIA BHUTAN
even as India & Bhutan A
IN Line of
have carried on separate WEST Doka la CH Actual
l Control
acha
BENGA
negotiations with China. L
Arun esh
Prad
220 km
BHUTAN Sino-Indian
border in
INDIA Sikkim
Assam
Nagaland

ACKGROUND
The Doklam dispute flows from the territorial dispute between
Bhutan and China, which dates back to the 1950s when China
published maps claiming vast portions of the Bhutanese
territory.
Jakarlung Pasamlung
Doklam Total: 495
In 1998, both countries for the rst time signed a peace Plateau Sqkm
269
agreement promising to Maintain Peace and Tranquility Sqkm CHINA
INDIA
on the Bhutan-China Border Areas. This was also an ofcial
recognition that the two have unsettled territorial issues,
BHUTAN INDIA
including the Doklam plateau, which require a peaceful
settlement.

In the early 1990s China is a understood to have made Bhutan a

INDIA
package deal under which the Chinese agreed to renounce their
claim over the 495-sq.-km disputed land in the Pasamlung and Disputed areas between Bhutan and China
Jakarlung valleys to the north, in exchange for a smaller tract of
disputed land measuring 269 sq. km, the Doklam plateau.

NDIAS CONCERN ABOUT ROAD BUILDING

The construction
of a new road
through the Chumbi
India has also rejected Chinese India is vulnerable in this
valley would further
interpretation of the 1890 Sino-British corridor as it is the only
endanger the
Treaty, pointing out that the road access point to the northeast.
The Corridor is about 500 km ChickensNeck - the
construction by China would STOP
from the Chumbi Valley. narrow Siliguri corridor
undermine Indias security.
links the north-east
with the rest of India

India has conveyed to the Chinese Indias military presence in Doklam

government that the latters construction gives it the ability to snap vital road
of road in the disputed Doklam area would and in the near future, rail links
represent a signicant change of status quo between Lhasa and the Nathu-La
with serious security implications for India. region in the event of war.

BHUTAN

For Chinese troops to transgress over non-nalised borders
in Sikkim and into Bhutanese territory is unprecedented, and
is a violation of agreements with Bhutan from 1998 & 1999
as well as with India in 2012 to maintain the status quo, and
causes special worries for the future.
In recent time, China appears to have escalated its pressure on
Bhutan. The aim of the pressure is well known: To persuade
Bhutan to cede Doklam, through which China has built a road
linking Lhasa to the Nathu-La pass and is in the process of
driving a railway line, for two other disputed enclaves.

HINESE REACTION TO LATEST FACE-OFF

China has said that Indian forces had intruded into the Donglang or
Doklam an area, which according to Chinese interpretation lies
undisputedly on its side of the boundary in the Sikkim border area.

Beijing nds itself in astrange China served notice on

position in not having diplomatic India to withdraw its
ties with neighbouring Bhutan, forces, which had allegedly
which has lately widened its trespassed into its
foreign relations with 53 territory, as a precondition
countries, including Japan. for a meaningful dialogue
with New Delhi.

China has long desired an China has justied the

independent Bhutanese
stand without Indian
advocacy & interference
on the boundary issue.
Chinese academia often
dubbed Indias interference
as hegemony in South Asia.
By challenging Bhutanese
security, Beijing hopes to
put a strain on the India-
Bhutan special relationship
construction of a road in
the Sikkim sector, saying
the area undoubtedly is
located on its side of the
border as per the 1890
Following the tensions, Chinese Sino-British Treaty.
authorities have closed the
Nathu La pass to Kailash
Mansarovar pilgrims.

ETERIORATION OF INDIA-CHINA RELATION India-China relation has deteriorated

continuously since the Mr. Xis 2014
visit to India. The stand-off comes after
a series of setbacks to bilateral ties.

Dalai Lama visit to Tawang was strongly India is also working with Japan, South Korea and
protested by the China and it accused the US to contain Chinas power in the Indian Ocean,
CHINA INDIA

India for fuelling secessionist in Tibet. provoking, warnings from Chinas Foreign Ministry.

OBOR
In turn, Indias spurning of the Beltand Road
Initiative & cooperation with the U.S. on
maritime issues has not played well in China.
Delhi has expressed disappointment over
Chinas rejection of its concerns on sovereignty
issues, and refusal to corner Pakistan on cross-border terrorism
or help Indias bid for Nuclear Suppliers Group membership.

ay forward
These issues have to be addressed through sustained dialogue.
In the immediate term, however, talks must focus on defusing the
tensions at the tri-junction.

01
01 02 03 04 05
CHINA

Apart from its own Its influence over Bhutan
commitments to the
status quo, Beijing must
recognise the special
relationship India & Bhutan
have shared since 1947,
the friendship treaty of
2007 that commits India
to protecting Bhutans
interests, and the close
coordination between
the two militaries.
The Indian government China has made the India needs to rise to
is anite commodity, must see that Bhutans withdrawal of Indian this challenge. It must
inherited by historical sovereignty is no trivial troops a precondition take a rm stand in the
contingency. Once lost, matter, and ensure that for dialogue. This would current Doklam standoff
it would be near Bhutans sovereignty be unacceptable to to demonstrate its
impossible to replenish, must be maintained India, unless the PLA commitment to its ally.
especially when as that is the basis also withdraws its
competing against for the exemplary ties troops and road-
a richer and more between New Delhi building teams.
powerful Beijing. and Thimphu.