Bhutanese PM Lotay Tshering said that Bhutan and China will be able to resolve their border disputes within a few rounds of talks.
On Chinese Incursions
In a recent interview with Belgian newspaper La Libre during a visit to Brussels, Tshering said that the country does “not encounter major border problems with China” but that “certain territories are not yet demarcated,” for which they “still have to discuss” and “draw a line.”
He added that the resolution of those territories should happen in “one or two meetings.”
Bhutan's PM seeks to save face on China's well-documented encroachments on Bhutanese territories. He says Bhutan's border with China is not yet fully demarcated but then declares "there is no intrusion" as this is an "international border and we know exactly what belongs to us." pic.twitter.com/nnukwDlL7o
— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) March 29, 2023
The PM also noted that a Bhutanese delegation had visited China earlier this year and that it was now waiting for a Chinese technical team to visit the country. Referring to their last round of talks held in January 2023 in Kunming, the leader also stated that the neighbours have “come to understand each other.”
Tshering further dismissed reports of China building several villages on Bhutanese-administered territory, saying: “There is a lot of information circulating in the 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 media. This is an international border and we know exactly what belongs to us.”
My statement in Hindi and English on the recent remarks by Bhutanese PM on border issues with China & the resulting impact on our long-standing relationship with Bhutan. pic.twitter.com/vazEo5FUg7
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 30, 2023
Border Disputes with India
With regards to India, Dr. Tshering said that Bhutan is observing whether India and China can resolve their longstanding boundary issues, as his government is looking to discuss the issue over the Doklam trijunction.
“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,” he said on the issue of Doklam.
`Certain territories are not demarcated?' My stories have official maps of Bhutan from your National Statistical Bureau which show areas now under Chinese occupation lying well within Bhutan's territory. Let's not obfuscate the truth. China is a common threat. https://t.co/vvaMmpcK16
— Vishnu Som (@VishnuNDTV) March 29, 2023
Chinese Experts Blame India
Meanwhile, Chinese experts told state-run media house Global Times (GT) that although the Asian superpower’s border disputes with Bhutan were “very minor,” they “have not been formally demarcated because of India’s obstruction.”
GT concluded that it was India’s “old trick” to “make things more complicated, saying some place is disputes when there is no disputes at all in that place, in order to broaden the scope of the disputes and increase the difficulty to resolve the disputes.”