China eyes Bhutan as it glares at India

The belligerent stand of China over Doklam is designed to reduce Bhutan’s dependence on India, believe Indian experts. “Beijing is not interested in the legal fine print; it is interested in opening up Bhutan to its own sphere of influence,” said one of them to NH on condition of anonymity.

That being so, visits to Beijing by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval this month and by Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in August may not lead to a softening of the Chinese stand that Indian troops must withdraw from Bhutan first before any dialogue is initiated, they believe.

“Bhutan has been dependent on India for a very long time now. They didn’t even have a telephone in 1949 and they were not connected to the outer world. Prime Minister Nehru’s 1958 visit when he reached Bhutan on a Yak and was welcomed ceremoniously in the valley town of Paro, opened Bhutan to the outside world,” said an expert familiar with Chinese politics and diplomacy.

Indian observers point out that it is China which is seeking to change the status quo by building a road in the so-called disputed area. It had been agreed in 1986 that the status quo would be maintained but China has violated the agreement by building the road.

China and Bhutan in the meanwhile have conducted joint surveys of the disputed border areas and Indian media reports suggest that Chinese troops already have three camps in Bhutanese territory.

Bhutan is not only strategically important to India, it also has a treaty by which Indian army is stationed in the kingdom. Any sovereign country can seek the help of another country and Bhutan has received assistance from India for a very long time. A Chinese road at Doklam would give China access to the chicken’s neck, the narrow land that connects the North-East with the rest of India. India obviously sees the road building exercise as a hostile act.

“China is building up pressure to drive a wedge between Bhutan and India,” admitted one of the experts. If Bhutan wanted to have a treaty with India and seek its help, neither is it barred by international law nor can China stop it. But by virtually threatening to deploy Chinese troops in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, by drawing India’s Bhutan analogy, all that China is doing is to create an opening for itself into Bhutan.

China meanwhile accused India of "abusing" trade remedy measures and called for settling trade disputes through consultation, reports PTI.

Reacting to India's move to launch an anti-dumping investigation over photovoltaic cells and units imported from the China, Taiwan, and Malaysia, Wang Hejun, head of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce's (MOC) trade remedy and investigation bureau, said China is paying close attention to the investigation and hopes India will conduct it in a prudent manner and as per relevant rules.

Wang's comments come ahead of Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's visit to Shanghai to take part in the BRICS trade ministers meeting to be held from August 1-2 to discuss expanding e-commerce cooperation.

China imported products worth over USD 70.16 billion from BRICS countries in the first half of 2017, up 33.6 per cent year on year, MOC data showed.

The Xinhua report, however, did not provide details of China's exports to BRICS countries.

During her visit, Sitharaman is also expected to discuss the yawning trade deficit in India-China bilateral trade which has now crossed over USD 50 billion in little over USD 70 billion overall trade between the two countries.