China Grabs Neighbor’s Land While Negotiating Border Deal

New satellite imagery has revealed Chinese expansion into territory previously controlled by Bhutan even as China continues to negotiate a border agreement with its neighbor to the south.

China’s strategy of encouraging settlement in disputed areas appears to supersede the ongoing boundary talks, suggesting an attempt to alter realities on the ground in its favor, researchers say.

It is a move that could have long-lasting implications for the small kingdom of less than 1 million people, sandwiched between China and India, with Bhutan’s leaders finding it difficult to address China’s alleged encroachment on villages that are already sparsely populated by their own Bhutanese people.

Beijing’s land grab in the north of the Himalayan country was taking place in the form of an “unsanctioned program of settlement construction across the contested border with Bhutan,” open-source analysts John Pollock and Damien Symon wrote in The World Today, a magazine published by the Chatham House think tank in London.

Their December 1 included satellite imagery from September that showed new outposts in Bhutan’s remote Jakarlung Valley, part of the Beyul Khenpajong region.

Incumbent Prime Minister Lotay Tshering of Bhutan continued negotiations with China during his time in office. Tshering’s decision suggests the kingdom has little choice but to strike a deal with its powerful neighbor in order to stop the encroachment.

The Chinese government also is pushing Bhutan to establish direct diplomatic relations, adding to the complexity of the geopolitical situation.

To do so would require a significant shift in Bhutan’s longstanding policy of not maintaining formal diplomatic ties with any permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The kingdom, for instance, has traditionally allowed India to act as its mediator with the United States in the absence of relations between Thimphu and Washington.

Tshering hinted in a recent interview with an Indian newspaper that negotiations with Beijing to settle their disputed border could end in an exchange of territory. Observers believed the most likely concessions to be Jakarlung and the neighboring Menchuma Valley that China has already seized.

In Menchuma, east of Jakarlung, Chinese troops were said to be present in areas previously under Bhutan’s control, with local Bhutanese denied access.

“Troops belonging to China’s People’s Liberation Army are also believed to be stationed in or near the settlements in both areas,” Pollock and Symon said.

Robert Barnett, a Tibet expert at SOAS, University of London, who was quoted in their report, noted “two major waves” of Chinese settlement construction in Jakarlung.

“We know that the Chinese authorities are energetically recruiting Tibetans to move to these new locations and putting a lot of money into major construction efforts there,” he told The World Today.

These activities are continuing against the backdrop of Bhutan’s fourth fully democratic elections in 15 years. The kingdom began voting last week in national elections contested by two political parties.

Tshering, in his October interview with Indian daily The Hindu, said it was only a matter of time before Thimphu and Beijing established relations, but left room for a non-traditional arrangement.

“Theoretically, how can Bhutan not have any bilateral relations with China? The question is when and in what manner,” he said.

Additionally, India’s role as Bhutan’s security guarantor, established through treaties in 1949 and updated in 2007, adds another layer to the region’s political dynamic.

New Delhi was keeping a close watch on developments between Beijing and Thimphu. Any land swap deal would directly impact India’s own borders with China. Bhutan has indicated that Thimphu is informing New Delhi about the progress of talks with Beijing, Newsweek previously reported.