Beijing, Apr 1 (PTI) China and Bhutan on Wednesday discussed boundary alignment in areas “where there are no disputes” as the two sides held the 15th Expert Group Meeting on their boundary issues.
At the expert group meeting held here, the two sides affirmed the progress made in the China-Bhutan boundary negotiations in recent years, a joint press release issued by both sides after the talks said.
They had frank and constructive discussions in a friendly atmosphere on the way forward to make further progress on the implementation of the Three-Step Roadmap, it said.
The two sides agreed to maintain the momentum of boundary negotiations and hold the next round of Expert Group Meeting in Bhutan at mutually convenient dates, it said.
Significantly, the 3rd meeting of the Joint Technical Team on Delimitation and Demarcation of the China-Bhutan Boundary, held on the sidelines of the expert group meeting, discussed boundary alignment in undisputed areas.
“On the sidelines of the 15th EGM, the 3rd meeting of the Joint Technical Team on Delimitation and Demarcation of the China-Bhutan Boundary held discussions on the boundary alignment in areas where there are no disputes, in keeping with the Cooperation Agreement,” the release said.
The 15th Expert Group Meeting on Bhutan-China Boundary Issues was co-chaired by Letho Tobdhen Tangbi, Secretary of the International Boundaries of Bhutan, and Hou Yanqi, Director General of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. Hou was a former Ambassador to Nepal and ASEAN.
China and Bhutan do not have diplomatic relations, but maintain contact through periodic visits by officials.
While Beijing resolved the boundary disputes with 12 neighbours, India and Bhutan are the only two countries with which China has yet to resolve the border disputes.
The two countries have agreed to expedite negotiations to settle their border dispute through a three-step roadmap in 2023.
Bhutan shares a 477 km-long border with China, and the two countries held 25 rounds of boundary talks to resolve the border dispute.
India and China have so far held 24 rounds of the Special Representatives talks to resolve the border disputes spanning 3488 km along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
In recent years, China has stepped up efforts to establish full-fledged diplomatic ties with Bhutan and to expedite negotiations to settle the border dispute, which was complicated by Beijing’s attempts to claim the Doklam area despite Thimphu’s assertions that it belongs to it.
China’s attempts to build a road in the Doklam plateau in 2017 resulted in a standoff with India, triggering tensions between the two neighbours.
India strongly opposed the construction of the road by the Chinese military at Doklam as it would have impacted its overall security interests since it runs close to the Siliguri Corridor, also known as the Chicken Neck, connecting India with the North-East.
The standoff ended after Beijing dropped its plan to build the road.
Also in 2020, China made a surprising claim over the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan at the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council by opposing funding for the project. Bhutan lodged a protest with the Chinese Embassy in India over Beijing’s claim on the sanctuary. PTI KJV ZH ZH
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