China says it has border dispute with Bhutan too
India watches closely as move has implications for region
BEIJING/NEW DELHI: China on Saturday officially stated for the first time it has a boundary dispute with Bhutan in the eastern sector, a development with significant implications for India as the region borders Arunachal Pradesh, which is also claimed by Beijing.
The Chinese foreign ministry, in a statement issued to Hindustan Times, said the China-Bhutan boundary has never been delimited and there “have been disputes over the eastern, central and western sections for a long time”. The statement in Mandarin further said “a third party should not point fingers” in the China-Bhutan border issue – an apparent reference to India. Bhutan and China have held 24 rounds of talks between 1984 and 2016 to settle their border issue and, according to discussions in the Bhutanese parliament and other public records of these meetings, the discussions have only centred on disputes in the western and central sections of the boundary.
People familiar with developments in Thimphu said on condition of anonymity that the eastern section has never figured in the border talks. “The two sides had said things had been narrowed down to the central and western sections and there was even talk of a package deal to settle the issue. If the Chinese position on the eastern section was legitimate, it should have been brought up earlier,” said one of the people cited above.
An expert from Bhutan who has tracked the talks added:
“This is an entirely new claim. There are signed minutes of the meetings from both sides narrowing the disputes to only the western and central sections.”
There was no immediate reaction to China’s claim from Indian officials. However, China’s claim came against the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion during a visit to Ladakh on Friday that the “era of expansionism” is over – which was perceived as a signal to Beijing about New Delhi’s determination to defend its frontiers.
The Chinese foreign ministry’s statement said: “The boundary between China and Bhutan has never been delimited. There have been disputes over the eastern, central and western sectors for a long time, and there are no new disputed areas.