Sometimes the world suddenly wakes up to reality. It almost seems as if satellite imagery analysts and conflict experts around the world suddenly woke up to China’s excesses in Bhutanese territory in 2021. At least four new village settlements have been identified along the Sino-Bhutan border areas. In fact, they have been coming for the last few years. It is only that the world has now woken up to it.
Since 2017, Xi Jinping has been vocal about pushing China to expand into new borders along and outside its borders. The focus is on the Tibetan border areas and the border with Bhutan to further and marginalize India in the South-Asian perspective.
The name of the village is now Gylafug. While China originally claimed to have established it in South TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region) to resettle Tibetans and “raise the bright five-star red flag”, it is actually located well within Bhutan’s territory.
What do we know about China’s excesses?
The village of Gyalphug is located approximately 7 kilometers in Bhutan territory, which has been claimed by China since the 1980s. Records and maps available internationally show that it is actually Bhutanese territory within which China has now resettled its civilians, military personnel and others after building civil and military infrastructure. It is important to remember that China has long had border issues with Bhutan in other areas of its borders as well.
The infrastructure in the villages includes, but is not limited to, more than 100 kilometers of well laid roads, CCP offices, military outposts, a small power plant and signal towers. Originally formalized in 2018, the village has now expanded enough for the world to take notice. It is estimated that the village may now be home to hundreds of people who have similar looking houses to live in.
Satellite imagery shows that on an average four villages within the disputed areas lie at a distance of 3-4 kilometres. The rapid construction of these villages took place between the years 2020 and 2021 and work is still going on at these places.
OSINT expert @detresfa_ shared some key insights and imagery with India Today. Detresfa’s work estimates that these 4 villages are about 100 square kilometers within the disputed areas.
The most fascinating thing about this trespass by China is that Chinese maps from the 1980s also show the location where Gyalphug village is located as Bhutanese territory. Time-lapse videos of villages located in the region show a rapid increase in construction activity by China.
While China has, at various times, built roads in disputed areas in the past, this is rarely done in the form of building an entire city inside a disputed area, despite the land being internationally recognized as Bhutanese territory. I have gone.
China’s border dispute with Bhutan:
Detresfa produces a simple map with some common locations to identify the various cross-border activities carried out by China in Bhutan over the years, from which “salute slicing” can be observed. This clearly shows that there are many border disputes and differences between China and Bhutan on the 470 km border. While most of these 4 villages fall under the “disputed areas” tag, China’s creation of these villages violates a 1998 agreement between the two countries, which states that the disputed land should be left alone until Until a consensus is reached in this regard.
Talking about western Bhutan, China has already built a village named Pangda. This, too, is going to be the construction of roads with new infrastructure. It is also very close to Doklam.
In addition, Bhutan’s current negotiations on ownership of territory on the north side, namely the Beyul Khempjong and Menchuma Valley are in balance with China, asking Bhutan to trade it for 269 km of its territory to the west, including Includes Charithang. The prized place of Sinchulungpa, Dramana, Shakhto and Doklam. This is also an area that Chinese maps in the eighties showed as belonging to Bhutanese territory. Bhutan and India are aware of the importance and sensitivity of this land for India’s security. This is the main reason why China tried to build a road in Doklam, and the Indian Army had to step in to stop it after 73 days of confrontation with PLA troops.
As the image below shows, the Doklam plateau’s proximity to the Siliguri Corridor is the gateway to the northeastern regions of India to the rest of the country. In the event of a future war, this could be a strategic area for the PLA to flee.
This is the main reason why China has been putting more pressure on Bhutan in recent years. Recently, China laid claim to an area which is the famous Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary to the east of Bhutan. The most audacious thing about this move is that it has never been taken by China before and the obvious fact is that this area does not even fall in the border areas between the two countries.
Some might say that China is playing a long game to target India and is not necessarily interested in capturing parts of Bhutan. The strategic areas of Bhutan will give it a gateway to India. That’s why China is unnecessarily claiming Beyul Khenpazong, a very sacred Tibetan Buddhist area. The region has a deep history with Buddhism and Bhutan. According to China, it wants Bhutan to choose this land in its territories in the west, including Doklam. Typical blackmailing tactic, one would say.
It is also shocking that many media houses in Bhutan had not reported this even earlier when encroachment and construction was taking place in the disputed area. Within China, however, there have been several media reports documenting the progress of building this infrastructure, but it is said to be part of Chinese territory. Therefore, no real red flags were raised when these reports were published.
Bhutan, India and China:
On the diplomatic front, the continued need for a small nation like Bhutan by a global superpower like China may not result in great optics. It is well known that Bhutan is much closer to India than China, to the effect that Bhutan does not even have a Chinese consulate. In terms of diplomacy, Bhutan is probably the last frontier that China would like to include in South Asia. This is also something that India is aware of. India would not like to repeat what happened to its former close neighbor Nepal. Geographically, Bhutan is also at a very difficult place on the map, where it cannot afford to openly engage in any fight between India and China.
Bhutan and China signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2021 on talks “to accelerate the Bhutan-China border”. This follows reports of a roadmap being finalized in April 2021. The roadmap is said to include laying out a framework and confirmation indicators for specific disputes. Map.
The Embassy of Bhutan in India indicated that the process of talks was a sensitive process and additional details could not be disclosed. This 37. Isth The year of talks between the two countries on the border dispute. India is watching these talks keenly and since Doklam has risen to the occasion, would like to be well updated before Bhutan changes or changes its stance on any border dispute with China. After Doklam, there was a brief pause in discussions between Bhutan and China, reportedly in the interest of India. It was only after this that China built the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary. Experts believe that this was done to bring Bhutan back to the discussion table.
(The author is a Singapore-based open-source intelligence analyst)