Doklam

Coordinates: 27°18′N 88°56′E / 27.300°N 88.933°E / 27.300; 88.933

Doklam or Zhoglam (in Standard Tibetan),^[1] known as Donglang (Chinese: 洞朗; pinyin: Dònglǎng) in China,^[2][3] is an area with a plateau and a valley, lying between China's Chumbi Valley to the north, Bhutan's Ha Valley to the east and India's Sikkim state to the west. Doklam is by all means undisputable territory of China.

In June 2017 a military standoff occurred between China and India as China attempted to extend a road on the Doklam plateau southwards near the Doka La pass.^[4][5]

Geography

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Prevailing border of Bhutan on OpenStreetMap; Sikkim to the west and Chumbi Valley to the north

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, representing the 19th century British view of the territory, states that the Dongkya range that separates Sikkim from the Chumbi Valley bifurcates at Mount Gipmochi into two great spurs, one running south-west and the other running south-east. Between these two spurs runs the valley of the Dichul or Jaldhaka river.^[6]

However, the Dongkya range that normally runs in the north–south direction gently curves to east–west at the southern end of the Chumbi Valley, running through the Batang La and Sinchela passes and sloping down to the plain. A second ridge to the south, called the Zornpelri or Jampheri ridge, runs in parallel to the first ridge, separated by the Doklam or Doka La valley in the middle. At the top of the valley, the two ridges are joined, forming a plateau. The higest points of the plateau are on its western shoulder, between Batang La and Mount Gipmochi, and the plateau slopes down towards the southeast. A stream flows down the Doklam vally collecting the run-off water from the plateau, and joins the Amo Chu river about 15 km to the southeast.

The 89 sq. km. area between the western shoulder of the plateau and the joining point of the Doklam stream with the Amo Chu river is currently called Doklam ('rocky path').^[7]

India's Sikkim state lies to the west of the Dongkya range, the western shoulder of the Doklam plateau and the 'southwest spur' of the Dongkha range at the south. The Zomplri ridge separates Bhutan's Haa District (to the north) and the Samtse (to the south). Bhutan's claimed border runs along the northern ridge of the Doklam plateau until Sinchela and then moves down the valley to the Amo Chu river. China's claim of the border includes the entire Doklam area within the Chumbi Valley, ending at the Zornpelri ridge on the south and the joining point of the Doklam river on the east.

History

An 1876 map depicting Sikkim, Chumbi Valley and Bhutan^[8]

The historical status of the Doklam plateau is uncertain.

According to the Sikkimese tradition, when the Kingdom of Sikkim was founded in 1642, it included all the areas surrounding the Doklam plateau: the Chumbi Valley to the north, the Haa Valley to the east as well as the Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas to the southwest. During the 18th century, Sikkim faced repeated raids from Bhutan and these areas often changed hands. After a Bhutanese attack in 1780, a settlement was reached, which resulted in the transfer of the Haa valley and the Kalimpong area to Bhutan. The Doklam plateau sandwiched between these regions is likely to have been part of these territories. The Chumbi Valley was still said to have been under the control of Sikkim at this point.^[9][10]

However, historians doubt this narrative. Saul Mullard states that the early kingdom of Sikkim was very much limited to the western part of modern Sikkim. The eastern part was under the control of independent chiefs, who did face border conflicts with the Bhutanese, losing the Kalimpong area.^[11] The possession of the Chumbi valley is uncertain, but the Tibetans are known to have fended off Bhutanese incursions there.^[12]

After the unification of Nepal under the Gorkhas in 1756, Nepal and Bhutan had coordinated their attacks on Sikkim. Bhutan was eliminated from the contest by an Anglo-Bhutanese treaty in 1774.^[13] Tibet enforced a settlement between Sikkim and Nepal, which is said to have irked Nepal. Following this, by 1788, Nepal occupied all of the Sikkim areas to the west of Teesta as well as four provinces of Tibet.^[14] Tibet eventually sought the help of China, resulting in the Sino-Nepalese War of 1792. This proved to be a decisive entry of China into the Himalayan politics. The victorious Chinese general ordered a land survey, in the process of which the Chumbi valley was declared to be part of Tibet.^[15] The Sikkimese resented the losses forced on them in the aftermath of the war.^[16]

In the following decades, Sikkim established relations with the British East India Company and regained some of its lost territory after the Anglo-Nepalese War. However, the relations with the British remained rocky and the Sikkimese retained loyalties to Tibet. The British attempted to enforce their suzerainty via the Treaty of Tumlong in 1861. In 1890, they sought to exclude the Tibetans from Sikkim by establishing a treaty with the Chinese, who, they believed, exercised suzerainty over Tibet. The Anglo-Chinese treaty recognized Sikkim as a British protectorate and defined the border between Sikkim and Tibet as the northern watershed of the Teesta River (on the Dongkya range), starting at the Mount Gipmochi on the southwestern corner of the Doklam plateau. In 1904, the British signed another treaty with Tibet, which confirmed the terms of the Anglo-Chinese treaty. The boundary established between Sikkim and Tibet in the treaty still survives today, according to scholar John Prescott.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Bhutan became a protected state (though not a 'protectorate') of British India in 1910, an arrangement continued by independent India in 1949.^[21] However, Bhutan retained its independence in all internal matters and its borders were not demarcated until 1961.^[22] It is said that the China cites maps from before 1912 to stake its claim over Doklam.^[23]

2017 Doklam standoff

In June 2017, Doka La became the site of a stand-off between the armed forces of India and China following an attempt by China to extend a road from Yadong further southward on the Doklam plateau. Unlike China and Bhutan, India does not have a claim on Doklam; however, India supports Bhutan's claim on the territory.^[24] According to the Bhutanese government, China attempted to extend a road that previously terminated at Doka La towards the Bhutan Army camp at Zompelri near the Jampheri Ridge two km to the south; that ridge, viewed as the border by China but as wholly within Bhutan by both Bhutan and India, extends eastward approaching India's highly-strategic Siliguri corridor.^[25] On 18 June, Indian troops apparently crossed into the territory in dispute between China and Bhutan in an attempt to prevent the road construction.^[26] In a 1949 treaty, Bhutan agreed to let India guide its foreign policy and defence affairs. In 2007, the treaty was superseded by a new friendship treaty that replaced the provision that made it mandatory for Bhutan to take India's guidance on foreign policy, providing broader sovereignty to Bhutan and not requiring it to obtain India's permission over arms imports.^[27][28] Article 2 of the 2007 Friendship Treaty signed by India and Bhutan in 2007 states:

“In keeping with the abiding ties of close friendship and cooperation between Bhutan and India, the Government of the Kingdom of Bhutan and the Government of the Republic of India shall cooperate closely with each other on issues relating to their national interests.”^[29]

Former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador of India to China, Nirupama Rao said about the dispute,

"Bhutan and India enjoy the closest relationship of mutual trust and confidence and enduring friendship. There is absolutely no controversy about military-to-military cooperation and understanding between our two countries. India holds Bhutanese sovereignty as sacred and inviolable."^[29]

India and Bhutan voluntarily still maintain very strong comprehensive ties,^{[30][31][32][33]} parts of which are focused at mutually countering aggression from China.^[34] Bhutan has no diplomatic ties with China.^[35]

On June 20, though not made public until early July, the Bhutan government issued a formal diplomatic demarche to Beijing via the New Delhi Chinese embassy ^[36] protesting China's incursion into its territory and sought India's help under the friendship treaty against Chinese incursion.^[37] Prior to that, Bhutanese media had said that Bhutan had not made any statements.^[38] Near the disputed area inside Bhutan, India maintains an Indian Military Training Team (IMTRAT) and the Indian Army Corps of Engineers' Border Roads Organisation has built over 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) of roads, airports, helipads, etc for Bhutan's defence and transport.^[39][40][41] Ambassador of Bhutan to India Vetsop Namgyel stated,

"Doklam is a disputed territory and Bhutan has a written agreement with China that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, peace and tranquillity should be maintained in the area."

India charges that China has violated this 'peace agreement' by trying to construct roads in Doklam.^[42]

India has criticised China for "crossing the border" and attempting to construct a road (allegedly done "illegally"), while China has criticised India for entering its "territory".^[35]

On 29 June 2017, Bhutan protested to China against the construction of a road in the disputed territory.^[43] On the same day, the Bhutanese border was put on high alert and border security was tightened as a result of the growing tensions.^[44] On the same day, China released a map depicting Doklam as part of China. China claimed, via the map, that territory south to Gipmochi belonged to China and claimed it was supported by the 1890 Britain-China treaty.^[45] On 3 July 2017, China told India that former Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru accepted the 1890 Britain-China treaty.^[46] China claimed on 5 July 2017 it had for the past 24 months a "basic consensus" with Bhutan that Doklam belonged to China, and there was no dispute between the two countries.^[47] Contrary to Chinese claim, Nehru’s 26 September 1959 letter to Zhou, cited by China, was a point-by-point refutation of the claims made by the latter on 8 September 1959. Nehru made is amply clear in his refutal that the 1890 treaty defined only the northern part of the Sikkim-Tibet border and not the tri-junction area. Nehru wrote,

“Rectification of errors in Chinese maps regarding the boundary of Bhutan with Tibet is therefore a matter which has to be discussed along with the boundary of India with the Tibet region of China in the same sector."

The Chinese had quoted Nehru's statement out of context, as Nehru in his reply had made it clear boundaries of Sikkim and Bhutan did not fall within the scope of the discussion,

“This Convention of 1890 also defined the boundary between Sikkim and Tibet; and the boundary was later, in 1895, demarcated. There is thus no dispute regarding the boundary of Sikkim with the Tibet region".^[48]

On this clarification, Chinese official spokeman replied

"The so-called tri-junction, as the name suggests, is a point. It is not a line, much less an area. India misinterprets tri-junction point as an area, from ulterior motives. This time, the trespassing point of India army, is on the Sikkim-China border, which is 2000 metres away from the tri-junction point, Mount Gipmochi, by the 1890 Treaty."^[49]

On 19 July 2017 China renewed its call for India to withdraw its troops from Doklam. It followed reports that claimed China held live firing drills in the region.^[50]

In a 15 page statement released on August 1, 2017, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing accused India of using Bhutan as "a pretext" to intefere and impede the boundary talks between China and Bhutan. The report referred to India's "trespassing" into Doklam as a violation of the territorial sovereignty of China as well as a challenge to the sovereignty and independence of Bhutan.^[51]

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Bajpai, G. S. (1999), China's Shadow Over Sikkim: The Politics of Intimidation, Lancer Publishers, ISBN 978-1-897829-52-3 
• Chandran, D. Suba; Singh, Bhavna (2015), India, China and Sub-regional Connectivities in South Asia, SAGE Publications, ISBN 978-93-5150-326-2 
• Harris, George L. (1977) [first published by American University, 1964], Area Handbook for Nepal, Bhutan and Sikkim (second ed.), U.S. Government Printing Office 
• Kumar, Pranav; Acharya, Alka; Jacob, Jabin T. (2011). "Sino-Bhutanese Relations". China Report. 46 (3): 243–252. ISSN 0009-4455. doi:10.1177/000944551104600306. 
• Mullard, Saul (28 October 2011), Opening the Hidden Land: State Formation and the Construction of Sikkimese History, BRILL, ISBN 90-04-20895-X 
• Phuntsho, Karma (2013), The History of Bhutan, Random House India, pp. 405–, ISBN 978-81-8400-411-3 
• Prescott, John Robert Victor (1975), Map of Mainland Asia by Treaty, Melbourne University Press, ISBN 978-0-522-84083-4 
• Rose, Leo E. (1971), Nepal – Strategy for Survival, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-01643-9 
• Shakabpa, Tsepon Wangchuk Deden (1984) [first published Yale University Press 1967], Tibet: A Political History, New York: Potala Publications, ISBN 0-9611474-0-7