Face-Off, Step Back

While the mini-crisis between India and China over a road-building programme in a controversial area claimed by Bhutan has been averted (for now), China continues to push its tactics for territorial and maritime influence.

- Beth Stevenson

On 16 June 2017, China (People’s Republic of China) began moving troops into the Doklam/Donglang plateau, an area located between Tibet's Chumbi Valley to the north, Bhutan's Ha Valley to the east and India's Sikkim state to the west. The reason for the incident was founded in China’s desire to further extend an existing road in Tibet southward. A military face-off between Indian and Chinese troops ensued.

While seemingly low key in terms of military action, the area into which Chinese troops were planning to extend is a plateau disputed by China and Bhutan, which caused the latter’s ally India to intervene on its behalf, starting a standoff between the two larger nations.

Bhutan and India’s alliance is one that runs deep, with the latter guiding the former’s diplomatic and defence affairs from 1949 to 2007, at which point the existing treaty was replaced with a friendship treaty that softened the requirements of the old agreement.

To this end, India acted on behalf of Bhutan throughout the stand-off in 2017, deploying troops, weapons and bulldozers to the plateau in order to counter Chinese troops with construction equipment that had located themselves in the area.

Tension between China and India is not new, with previous conflicts occurring over border areas, given that they touch at several strategic points. Disagreements between the two have been underway for some 100 years.

In 1962 a border war occurred between the two countries over disputes relating to the McMahon Line. a border established between India and Tibet through the Simla Accord initiated by the United Kingdom in 1914, which was rejected by China.

In addition to the disputed McMahon Line, another area, Aksai Chin, is considered by India to be part of the Jammu and Kashmir state, but China administers it through its Xinjiang autonomous region.