With respect to China’s efforts over the last two decades to gobble up regions of the small country of Bhutan, efforts that have entailed both negotiations with Bhutan and massive furtive development by China on Bhutanese territory that China claims for itself, India has not been a mere bystander.
According to The Diplomat, “Beijing blames India’s concerns over the Doklam plateau, the site of a 2017 stand-off with China, as one reason for negotiations stalling in the past couple of years, with New Delhi wary over a Bhutan-China border deal that ‘would undermine its interests.’ . . .
“Since the 2017 stand-off with India, Beijing has already strengthened its de facto control over much of the Doklam plateau, located strategically along the Bhutan-China-India tri-junction.”
The Diplomat notes that Bhutan is hardly an isolated example of a country subject to Chinazi land grabs.
“China has well-known maritime disputes in the South China Sea (pitting China against Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam) and East China Sea (where China claims islands administered by Japan).
“In South Asia, China has also been involved with several land disputes with India and recent years have witnessed an escalation in attacks by China. China violently clashed with India at the Galwan Valley in Eastern Ladakh on June 15, 2020. The clash left 20 Indian soldiers dead and several injured. The PLA also reportedly suffered casualties. China has also staked a claim over parts of India’s Arunachal Pradesh.
“China also has a long-standing dispute over parts of Nepal. China began building in territory claimed by Nepal, stating it was part of Tibet.”
The Diplomat asks why China in recent years has been taking “more muscular action” in territorial disputes that have been simmering for decades. Perhaps it partly has to do with the ambitions of the current Chinese dictator, Xi Jinping, top guy in China since 2012. In the last few years, Xi has further consolidated his power. China also seems to be learning more about how much it can get away with this side of open war, each brazen action serving as test run and precedent for the next.
