BHUTAN CAN SOLVE ITS BORDER PROBLEM WITH CHINA – IF INDIA LETS IT

[DharmaSpace]

Tibetan in exile are a strange bunch, they have over the years willingly become a pawn of India,
because they do not have any other role to play. The CTA also have not positioned themselves to be
taken seriously by China, hence they chose to be a chess piece for India. Looking at this article, it
is quite clear as to why India tolerates the Tibetans, no matter how embarrassing the Tibetans are
with all the discrimination they have acted upon like the Dorje Shudgen ban etc and non democratic actions against Tibetan political opponents in the world's largest democracy.

If one is willing to be used, at least have some benefits, there isn't any benefit from Tibet being a pawn
in the Chinese-Indian geopolitical game. I say whilst China is willing, and one has the opportunity; Tibetans
should make their long march back to Tibet. India has offered some opportunities in the past but that is history now. Many more expats and westerners are running to China,much wealth is being generated in China not the US or Europe. It is time to Look East and not to the West anymore.

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BHUTAN CAN SOLVE ITS BORDER PROBLEM WITH CHINA – IF INDIA LETS IT
The only surviving Tibetan Buddhist kingdom is caught between a rock and a hard place, seemingly willing to negotiate its longstanding territorial claims with Beijing but feeling the heat from an overbearing New Delhi

BY TSERING SHAKYA
22 JUL 2017
2091 SHARE

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is met by Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay at Paro Airport in 2014, when he went to Bhutan on his first foreign trip since becoming prime minister.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is met by Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay at Paro Airport in 2014, when he went to Bhutan on his first foreign trip since becoming prime minister.

 Unprecedented success of Dangal blunts some of the popular contempt on social media in the wake of military tussle
Border standoff with India be damned, Chinese love for this Bollywood film just keeps growing
The tiny Himalayan state of Bhutan, portrayed as the happiest place in the world, is now caught in the middle between two Asian giants as Chinese and Indian soldiers stand eyeball-to-eyeball on a narrow, barren patch high up on the mountainous borders where Bhutan and China meet.

Rhetoric has been flying thick and fast on both sides, with Beijing reminding India about the “lesson” of 1962 and New Delhi retorting that it is not the same India that lost poorly to China in that short border war 55 years ago. The current situation is portrayed by India’s hyper-nationalistic media in terms of encirclement by China and Beijing’s designs on India. However, for the small Himalayan states and border regions, it’s not China that makes them nervous, it’s India.

China, India border dispute bubbles over once more, but no one is quite sure why

The Indian press, calling it a border dispute between India and China, colourfully describes the disputed narrow valley leading into India’s northeast as the “chicken neck”. The valley is supposedly the “dagger” pointing at India, alluding to China’s strategic intentions. In reality, the issue does not have much to do with the border, and definitely not the China-India border. The area under contention, between Bhutan and Tibet, has never been cartographically demarcated.

Before the Chinese annexation of Tibet, the nomads living on the plateau moved freely across these areas. In the 1950s, China negotiated and settled most of its land borders, but never completed discussions with Bhutan, because India insisted on the right to negotiate on behalf of Bhutan, which the Chinese refused to accept. China wanted direct negotiations with Bhutan. Eventually India had to relent.

Border standoff with India be damned, Chinese love for this Bollywood film just keeps growing

Since 1984, Bhutan and China have held 24 rounds of talks, the content of which has been kept secret. Both parties have mouthed the usual diplomatic platitudes, but the protracted nature of the talks indicates major disagreement.

India’s acceptance of direct Bhutan-China negotiations was based on observation of China’s past strategy in territorial negotiation with smaller states such as Pakistan, Nepal and Myanmar that are not seen as a threat to China’s security. For them, China adopted a benevolent position and conceded their demands. But with Bhutan, it has taken a tough stand, and many in Bhutan blame New Delhi for it.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrives for his teachings during the Buddhist Summer Council at the Diskit monastery in the Nubra Valley in India's Ladakh region near the Chinese border. Photo: AFP
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama arrives for his teachings during the Buddhist Summer Council at the Diskit monastery in the Nubra Valley in India's Ladakh region near the Chinese border. Photo: AFP

China stands on the crest of the Himalayas and has highly developed infrastructure, giving it the dominant position. Bhutan and China identified seven disputed areas. Most of these are of no great significance to China, and which it is willing to concede to Bhutan. But Bhutan’s claims are historically flimsy, and China has been able to present a huge amount of Tibetan historical land records from the past government of the Dalai Lama to show these territories were under the jurisdiction of Lhasa.

In 1996, after the 10th round of talks, it appeared that Bhutan and China had reached an understanding that China would concede to Bhutan’s claims in the northern sector of the border, while Bhutan would accept China’s claims to the south. When, 15 months later, the two sides met for the 11th round of meetings, there was much expectation that an agreement would be signed. But to China’s surprise, Bhutan revised its claims in the south and asserted a claim to larger territory than before, leading the talks to break down. China suspected the new claims were made at India’s behest and began to harden its stance.

This is India’s China war, Round Two

One area of dispute where China is not willing to make a concession is this narrow valley that the Tibetans call Dromo. During the Dalai Lama’s rule in Tibet, the area was administered from Phari Dzong, clearly within Tibet, and was divided into Upper and Lower Dromo. After the British invasion in 1904, Dromo was elevated to dzong, (county) and successive county administrators were appointed by the Lhasa government.

China has mobilised tens of thousands tonnes of military materials into Tibet.

This narrow valley was one of the important trade routes between India and Tibet and the hamlet of Dromo was the staging post for all goods entering and leaving Tibet. It was such an important route that the area has four different names, varying with the people using it – for British India it was the Chumbi Valley, for Newar merchants from Nepal it was Sher zingma, and for the Chinese, Yatung, now written as Yadong.

This standoff is China telling India to accept changing realities

This “dagger” pointing at India is the strip that separates the Indian state of Sikkim from Bhutan. The dispute is not about Dromo county, but a part of it called Drok Lam, Tibetan for “Nomads’ Path”, which Indians call Doklam. It’s about 600 sq km, about the size of Toronto. Here, Bhutan’s claim is not without foundation: although until 1913, Drok Lam was under the control of the Tibetan government in Lhasa, an enclave in Drok Lam was granted to Kazi Ugyen Dorje, one of the most important political figures in Bhutan, who served as the intermediary between British India and Tibet.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at Bhutan's National Assembly in Thimpu in 2014. While Bhutan does not fear an invasion from the north, it is leery of the increasing presence of India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at Bhutan's National Assembly in Thimpu in 2014. While Bhutan does not fear an invasion from the north, it is leery of the increasing presence of India.

In 1911, when the 13th Dalai Lama fled the advancing Qing army and sought refuge in Kalimpong, he was hosted by Ugyen Dorje. However, the area granted was an enclave within Drok Lam, not the entire 600 sq km. Bhutan’s over-assertion of its claims, suspects China and many in Bhutan, may be on the prompting of New Delhi, which sees the narrow strip essential for the defence of Sikkim and beyond.

Why China, India and the Dalai Lama are pushing the boundaries in Tawang

That would be tantamount to India sabotaging an agreement between Bhutan and China. The Indian media’s sabre-rattling on defending Bhutan from Chinese encroachment may be good for arousing nationalistic sentiment but does not find echoes in Bhutan. While the Bhutanese don’t fear invasion from the north, an increasing Indian presence will surely undermine its sovereignty.

Bhutan is the only surviving Tibetan Buddhist kingdom in the 21st century, and its leaders have been astute in preserving its independence, with the transition from absolute monarchy to democracy yielding remarkable success. As its history has shown, Bhutan can fully handle its own affairs – if India would let it. ?

Unprecedented success of Dangal blunts some of the popular contempt on social media in the wake of military tussle

Border standoff with India be damned, Chinese love for this Bollywood film just keeps growing
India is militarily engaging a state actor from the soil of a third country over a piece of land its partner country does not even control. Not even the mighty US does that
India’s got itself into a fine mess in Doklam, it’s time to get out and let China and Bhutan work it out
 Pakistani army would like to leverage the face-off near Bhutan to settle old scores with India, but Beijing has its own calculations. Then there is the US
Is China turning up heat on India through Pakistan flank amid Doklam standoff?
 Beijing has in fact successfully negotiated nearly all its land border disputes, sometimes explicitly invoking relevant international law. Stark exceptions are China’s still-disputed borders with India and Bhutan.

How India border stand-off gives China a chance to burnish its global image
 Unprecedented success of Dangal blunts some of the popular contempt on social media in the wake of military tussle
Border standoff with India be damned, Chinese love for this Bollywood film just keeps growing
 India is militarily engaging a state actor from the soil of a third country over a piece of land its partner country does not even control. Not even the mighty US does that
India’s got itself into a fine mess in Doklam, it’s time to get out and let China and Bhutan work it out
Tsering Shakya is the Canadian Research Chair in Religion and Contemporary Society at the University of British Columbia, and author of The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947
http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2103601/bhutan-can-solve-its-border-problem-china-if-india-lets-it

[michaela]

The later news about the Subject

China and India Locked in 'Eyeball-to-Eyeball' Border Standoff
By David Tweed
July 25, 2017, 6:00 AM GMT+8
China and India, two nuclear-armed powers with a combined population of 2.7 billion, have been in an “eyeball-to-eyeball” military stand-off over territory in Bhutan, a kingdom in a remote area of the Himalayas, since mid-June. The flare-up, one of the most serious since China won a border war in 1962, comes as the two rising powers jostle for regional influence. The current dispute is near a three-way junction between Bhutan, China’s Tibet and India’s Sikkim.

1. Why is the area important?

All land-based military and commercial traffic between India’s northeastern provinces and the rest of the country travels through the narrow strip of land known as the Siliguri Corridor -- also sometimes referred to as the Chicken’s neck. The Doklam Plateau -- where troops are currently facing off -- overlooks the corridor, which India defense strategists fear could be vulnerable to Chinese attack in case of a conflict,

2. How far back does this dispute go?

An 1890 convention between Britain and China is supposed to determine the location of the border near the Siliguri Corridor. However it contains a contradiction that allows each country to claim support for its position, said Taylor Fravel, who studies border disputes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. India contends the border is at Batang La, while China argues it is at Mount Gimpochi, three miles to the south. If China is correct, it would gain access to the Doklam Plateau.

3. What’s the status of ties between the three countries?

Bhutan has had close relations with India since 1949 when it agreed to a Friendship Treaty under which India would “guide” Bhutan’s foreign policy. This was updated in 2007 to remove the guidance provision. Both agreed that neither government would allow its territory to be used for activities harmful to the national security of the other. Bhutan doesn’t have diplomatic ties with China, though the two sides routinely holds talks aimed at resolving seven disputed border areas.

4. What is behind the latest flare-up?

All three sides agree that a People’s Liberation Army road-building team entered the Doklam Plateau and started construction. India said that its troops entered Bhutan’s territory “in coordination” with Bhutanese authorities to stop the Chinese road builders. There are now about 3,000 troops on each side on the plateau, according to the Times of India. It is the first time that Indian troops have confronted China from a third country.

5. Is it all about a road?

Bhutan’s foreign ministry says the road is being constructed on territory subject to a border dispute, and that the two sides in 1988 and 1998 agreed to refrain from changing the status quo of the boundary. China contends that it is operating in its own territory and cites the 1890 convention. The removal of Indian troops from the area is a prerequisite for “meaningful dialogue” to resolve the issue, China’s foreign ministry says. India cites a 2012 agreement that indicates the boundary points are yet to be finalized and says China’s actions could have serious implications for India’s security.

6. Is this stand-off more sensitive than others?

All this is taking place during a period of tense relations between two rivals competing for influence in the broader South Asia region. Bilateral relations were frosty even before the current border dispute began because New Delhi objects to President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road” trade-and-infrastructure initiative. Part of it traverses the Pakistan-administered part of disputed Kashmir, which India claims as its sovereign territory. China’s Global Times, raising Kashmir, said “under India’s logic, if the Pakistani government requests, a third country’s army can enter the area disputed by India and Pakistan.”

7. Will it lead to war as we saw in 1962?

Most observers think not. Conflict wouldn’t serve either country’s interest. India, with an election in 2019, would risk losing an economically debilitating conflict with a much more powerful foe. China would risk its efforts to present itself as an international leader, filling the shoes of an isolationist U.S.

8. Without war, what other solution is possible?

With nationalists in both countries stoking tensions, neither side can afford to be seen standing down. Most analysts predict a protracted stand-off before the two countries figure out a diplomatic solution. But it won’t be easy. Neither side wants to be the first to withdraw troops.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-24/what-s-the-china-india-border-stand-off-all-about-quicktake-q-a

[Big Uncle]

Don't you think its time already for China and India to stop getting at each other's throats. They are blinded by trivial matters of borderlines when they don't see how this brings glee from Western powers like America that stands to profit from a weaker China and India.

This is a new world order where we bring the fight onto the economic front. China has been on the forefront of doing so and India is beginning to realize this but trivial border issues should be put aside towards economic co-operation and with the combined economic and cultural dominance of both China and India can outweigh the overly heavy dependance on Western dominance by America-Europe.

[dsnowlion]

Don't you think its time already for China and India to stop getting at each other's throats. They are blinded by trivial matters of borderlines when they don't see how this brings glee from Western powers like America that stands to profit from a weaker China and India.

This is a new world order where we bring the fight onto the economic front. China has been on the forefront of doing so and India is beginning to realize this but trivial border issues should be put aside towards economic co-operation and with the combined economic and cultural dominance of both China and India can outweigh the overly heavy dependance on Western dominance by America-Europe.

What you say is very true Big Uncle... India and CHina should really stop getting on each other's throats and really join forces and be today's powerful influence in the world. Don't allow the greedy western leaders like Trump to laugh at them.

Asia has been under the western thumb and been exploited, used and abused for centuries by the West, I think it is high time the tables are turned, and it is turning. So don't let such border issues to bring each other down, find a way to work in harmony for the benefit of all.

I believe it is Asia's time now to rise up and be the leaders of the world. They should look at it this way, and work together to succeed. Don't let anyone stand in their way, sorry to say, not even Dalai Lama.

[michaela]

Tibetans in exile is creating problems again in heightening the tension between India and China. Instead of promoting peace, they provoked both India and China to take action and demande China to leave Tibet. And only yesterday Sikyong Lobsang Sangay said that he wants the Dalai Lama's envoys to resume dialogue with China.

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Tibetan exiles support India in border standoff with China

Dozens of Tibetan exiles on Friday held a rally in New Delhi in support of India in the ongoing border standoff with Chinese forces over disputed territory high in the Himalayas.

The Tibetan Youth Congress members waved Indian and Tibetan flags and demanded that China leave Tibet.

"'The border of China where they stand, it belongs to Tibetans. This is why we are standing with India," said Tashi Dhondup, the group's spokesman, adding that China was "illegally occupying" the area.

The standoff began in June after Indian troops confronted Chinese forces working on a road over the Doklam Plateau that is also claimed by India's ally Bhutan.

China demands that Indian troops withdraw unilaterally before any talks can be held, while New Delhi says each side should stand down. China and India fought a border war in 1962 and much of their frontier remains unsettled despite several rounds of official-level talks.

A large number of Tibetans have been living in exile in India since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/tibetan-exiles-support-india-border-standoff-china-49153536

[kris]

CTA wants the world in a chaos state so that they can take advantage of it. If CTA really embrace Buddha's teaching, they would encourage peace and kindness, instead of inciting hatred between countries so that they can take advantage of the situation.

[dsnowlion]

CTA wants the world in a chaos state so that they can take advantage of it. If CTA really embrace Buddha's teaching, they would encourage peace and kindness, instead of inciting hatred between countries so that they can take advantage of the situation.

TRUE. Truth is the Central Tibetan Administration is a disgusting bunch of fake corrupt politician out to just profit from the Tibetan cause and refugee. They are NOT Buddhist neither are they democratic... they are self-driven to do anything in their power to gain as much as they can. But they forget... there is such a thing as karma and eventually it will come back to them... why do you think so many countries are rejecting to see HH The Dalai Lama? Sorry to say once HH passes, whether there is a new succession or not... the world will no longer have an obligation to care about Tibetan and CTA --- WHO? Who are they? Nobody knows and nobody cares!

[michaela]

Dsnowlion

I agree with you that Lobsang Sangay only thinks of the benefit for him and his cronies again. Lobsang Sangay was commenting about Doklam because it involved China. But for India's other issues such as the Darjeeling unrest, Lobsang Sangay did not say anything because these matters would not bring him money or benefits whatsoever.