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What does the Bhutan-China border agreement mean for India?

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By Amar Diwakar (TRT)

Thursday’s roadmap signed by Bhutan and China towards resolving their longstanding boundary dispute could have strategic implications for India’s northeastern flank.

Bhutan and China’s agreement on a “three-step” roadmap to resolve their disputed border was met with a cautious reaction from India, a development which could have strategic implications for New Delhi moving forward.

The signing of the pact on Thursday comes four years after Chinese and Indian troops were locked in a 73-day standoff at the Doklam tri-junction, following China’s attempt to extend a road in the area that Bhutan claimed belonged to it.

“We have noted the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bhutan and China today. You are aware that Bhutan and China have been holding boundary negotiations since 1984. India has similarly been holding boundary negotiations with China,” said India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi at a media briefing.

A few hours earlier, Bhutan’s foreign ministry released a statement announcing the signing of the MoU through a virtual ceremony, inked by Bhutan’s foreign minister Tandi Dorji and China’s assistant foreign minister Wu Jianghao.

“The [MoU] on the Three-Step Roadmap will provide a fresh impetus to the Boundary Talks,” the Bhutanese foreign ministry added. It stated that Bhutan and China had “agreed” on the roadmap during the tenth expert group meeting that took place in Kunming in April this year.

Bhutan announced that the MoU – which is not yet public – would be exchanged between two sides through diplomatic channels.

China and Bhutan do not have formal diplomatic relations, and all communication is channeled through their missions in New Delhi.

Thursday’s agreement comes amid a continuing standoff between India and China in several friction points in eastern Ladakh.

Depending on how negotiations proceed, it may end up presenting a number of security concerns for India.

“The MoU has strategic significance for India’s national security in a region that connects the Indian mainland to the northeast,” Aravind Joshi, a researcher in South Asian security affairs with Global Risk Intelligence, told TRT World.

Chinese state media outlet Cnhubei reported a similar view in its response to Thursday’s pact.

“In the China-Bhutan agreement, the main source of fear for India is the issue of India’s detached northeast states,” it said, calling the troubled region India’s “soft underbelly.”

But for Medha Bisht, a professor at South Asian University and expert on Bhutanese foreign policy, the inking of the agreement for a roadmap was “not surprising” and should “not raise eyebrows” as it had been “anticipated for a long time”.

“Much of the groundwork had already been done since 2010,” she told The Wire.

Back in 2010, Bhutan and China agreed to carry out a joint field survey of the disputed regions, which was completed by 2015.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, right, shakes hand with his Bhutanese counterpart Lotay Tshering before their delegation level meeting in New Delhi, India, Dec. 28, 2018. In recent years, China has increased its engagement with South Asian countries that have traditionally been under India’s influence like Bhutan, which is the only country that shares a border with China but has no diplomatic relations with it. (Manish Swarup / AP)

The importance of Bhutan’s border

In 2017, the India-China standoff in the Doklam plateau triggered fears of a war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Bhutan maintained the area belonged to it and India supported the Bhutanese claim. New Delhi also opposed construction of a road by Beijing at the Doklam tri-junction on national security grounds.

Indian and Chinese troops withdrew from Doklam following a 73-day stalemate, but satellite images subsequently showed the buildup of Chinese military infrastructure in the region.

Last June, China staked a claim on the Sakteng wildlife sanctuary, marking the first time the Chinese had singled out any territory in eastern Bhutan.

Bhutan shares a 400-km-long contested border with China. Beijing claims around 765 square kms of Bhutanese territory, distributed between the north-west and central regions of the Himalayan kingdom.

Direct bilateral talks began in 1984, and since then there have been 24 rounds of boundary talks and ten rounds of meetings at the expert group level.

In 1997, China offered to give up claims on areas in central Bhutan in exchange for territory on its western flank, including Doklam. Bhutan refused the deal, reportedly under pressure from India, which was concerned over Chinese encroachment near its narrow Siliguri Corridor.

China’s Chumbi Valley, north of the Doklam plateau, and India’s Siliguri Corridor, south of Doklam, are strategic mountain chokepoints critical to both China and India.

The ethnically-Tibetan Chumbi Valley, described as the most strategically important real estate in the Himalayas, gives Beijing the ability to cut off the 24-km-wide Siliguri Corridor between Nepal and Bangladesh, which connects New Delhi to its northeastern states.

The Siliguri Corridor. (Andy Berner / )

“Maintaining control of the Chumbi Valley and gaining control over Doklam gives China a tactical advantage over India in a potential conflict. Beijing would then have a significant advantage where it can outflank Indian defensive entrenchments in Sikkim [one of India’s northeastern states], as well as being able to cut off the Siliguri Corridor,” said Joshi from Global Risk Intelligence.

“India would not only lose the ability to mount a strategic counter-offensive, but also grant the Chinese a launch pad for offensives into Kalimpong.”

Kalimpong, a small town in West Bengal with a centuries-old connection to Tibet, was the trigger behind the escalation of India-Chinese tensions over their border disputes that began in the 1950s.

As China-India goes, so goes South Asia

Over the past decade, China has increased its foreign policy engagement with South Asian countries which have traditionally been under India’s influence, like Nepal and Sri Lanka.

However, Bhutan has remained a stubborn obstacle for Beijing, given the ongoing failure to demarcate their boundary, which Bhutan viewed as a serious security threat.

For India, Beijing’s increased South Asian footprint is wrapped up in Beijing’s grand strategy in the region. When it comes to Bhutan, it will exhaust all means to prevent formal Sino-Bhutanese ties from taking shape.

Consequently, the hermetic kingdom’s strategic importance in the hegemonic tussle between two Asian giants also makes it “vulnerable” to undue influence and interference in its domestic affairs, explains Joshi.

“Bhutan does not want to get dragged into geopolitical rivalry between India and China. It sees this zero-sum competition as a recipe for domestic instability, and a more volatile region overall.”

But it might not have much of a choice.

“Ultimately, India-China dynamics will play a significant role in determining how Bhutan pursues opening up diplomatic ties with Beijing,” Joshi emphasised.

Source: TRT World

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Russia says NATO preparing for potential conflict in Eastern Europe, Black Sea

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NATO’s activities in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region are focused on preparing its allies for a potential confrontation with Russia, said the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday, citing militarization activities in the region.

The Romanian authorities have previously announced their readiness to invest 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) into modernizing the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base in Constanta County. The base is set to expand into a military town capable of accommodating the families of 10,000 military personnel, with plans to create urban infrastructure, said the ministry.

Construction has begun in the southern part of the future military town, where access roads and a robust power grid are currently being built. The modernization of the air base could make it the largest North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base in Europe by 2040. The U.S. military has been using this base since 1999, it said.

“The expansion of the Romanian air base is yet another proof that the North Atlantic bloc continues its unrestrained militarization of Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The ministry added that “the forced enhancement of coalition capabilities is also taking place in Poland and the Baltics.”

“Such activity by NATO members is provocative, exacerbates military tension along our borders and creates additional security threats to Russia. All this is aimed at preparing the bloc’s allies for a potential collision with our country,” the ministry said.

“We will monitor the developments in Romania, assess the emerging risks and take them into account during military planning,” the ministry added.

Source(s): CGTN

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Usable reserve will exceed USD 100 million by the end of this month: MMA

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Immigration Controller Mohamed Shamman, on Thursday, revealed over 900 undocumented immigrants have been deported as part of efforts to decrease the number of foreigners living in the Maldives unlawfully.

Speaking at a joint press conference held by Local Governance Ministry, Home Ministry, Maldives Immigration and Department of National Registration on Thursday – Shamman said two to three major operations are conducted every week to identify undocumented immigrants.

“We are removing them based on the capacity available at the detention centre. After their removal – the deportation of such individuals from the Maldives is proceeding at a fast pace,” he said.

Speaking further, Shamman underscored that there is a large number of foreigners involved in black market sale of US dollars in the Maldives – which he detailed is carried out near ATMs and through Viber groups.

Seven foreigners unlawfully selling US dollars in the black market were detained on March 15th in an operation carried out by Immigration’s Risk Intelligence and Legal Affairs and Enforcement and Compliance Division.

Shamman noted that some of these detainees have been deported already. Underscoring that some of the detainees lacked the necessary documentation – he said the documents have been requested from the embassy.

“As soon as the documents are received, they will be deported,” he added.

Source(s): sun.mv

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Over 900 undocumented immigrants deported: Immigration Controller

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Immigration Controller Mohamed Shamman, on Thursday, revealed over 900 undocumented immigrants have been deported as part of efforts to decrease the number of foreigners living in the Maldives unlawfully.

Speaking at a joint press conference held by Local Governance Ministry, Home Ministry, Maldives Immigration and Department of National Registration on Thursday – Shamman said two to three major operations are conducted every week to identify undocumented immigrants.

“We are removing them based on the capacity available at the detention centre. After their removal – the deportation of such individuals from the Maldives is proceeding at a fast pace,” he said.

Speaking further, Shamman underscored that there is a large number of foreigners involved in black market sale of US dollars in the Maldives – which he detailed is carried out near ATMs and through Viber groups.

Seven foreigners unlawfully selling US dollars in the black market were detained on March 15th in an operation carried out by Immigration’s Risk Intelligence and Legal Affairs and Enforcement and Compliance Division.

Shamman noted that some of these detainees have been deported already. Underscoring that some of the detainees lacked the necessary documentation – he said the documents have been requested from the embassy.

“As soon as the documents are received, they will be deported,” he added.

Source(s): sun.mv

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