29-Jun-2017: Army, PLA in a tug of war over Doklam Plateau

At the heart of the border dispute between India and China is a road being built by China in Doklam, where it has a territorial dispute with Bhutan. Beijing has accused India of having a “hidden agenda” hinting that New Delhi is trying to stop it from building the road on Bhutan’s behalf. Bhutan has lodged a formal protest asking China to stop work on the road.

Doklam, also called Donglang, is under Chinese control, but is also claimed by Bhutan. It is located at a tri-junction of India, Tibet and Bhutan and is close to the Nathu La pass, through which China has blocked this year’s Kailash Manasarovar yatra or pilgrimage over the border tension with India. Doklam is disputed territory and Bhutan has a written agreement with China that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, peace and tranquility should be maintained in the area. The disputed area also provides, according to India perspective, a bigger buffer to its sensitive Chicken’s Neck, or the Siliguri Corridor, which is an extremely narrow stretch of land that connects the north-eastern region to the rest of India. From the Chumbi Valley it is just a little over 100 kilometres away.

The Doklam Plateau, north of the tri-junction between Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet by Indian claim, is not just a disputed area, but has huge strategic significance for both India and China. For Chinese to reach the China-Bhutan border posts, Doklam provides an easy way to construct their road, and they have been trying to do so and India has consistently objected to it. Not very far from Doklam is the strategically important Chumbi Valley in the Tibetan region, to which Chinese are now planning to expand their rail connectivity.