The standoff between India and China in the Doklam (or Dokhlam) region was supposed to have ended last August, when, after months of high-pitched rhetoric and rigid positions displayed by both countries in the international community, the issue was declared satisfactorily resolved by the Indian government. Was the issue resolved? Did the Chinese withdraw as was claimed? We look at some background and more recent developments.
India recognises the narrow strip of land known as the Doklam plateau to be Bhutanese territory whereas China claims it as its own. When China moved bulldozers, workmen and other equipment into the area for the purposes of building a road, India objected for strategic reasons and initiated troop movements from the Indian side.
India said that China neither needed the road they were trying to construct, nor could it legally do so on the Bhutanese territory; thereby undermining India’s strategic interests. It was China’s position that Indian troops were making illegal incursions into their territory.
This was the worst standoff between the two Asian giants since 1962, when India and China went to war against each other. The international community also expressed concern about the possibility of an actual war. Both nations did their best to garner sympathy for their respective stances; China even going so far as to make a video about what it called India’s 7 Sins.
After some aggressive posturing on the border from both sides; including jostling, chest-bumping and stone throwing, both sides have come to an agreement to end the standoff. The fact that both sides had not armed their soldiers against each other was already indicative of neither side being interested in armed conflict. According to government sources, Beijing abandoned its plans to construct a road in the area and both sides undertook to withdraw troops from the area.
In August, a Chinese statement said that their troops would continue to patrol the area; that only Indian troops had withdrawn from the area. At the time China reiterated it would "continue to exercise its sovereignty" in respect to the area.
It would appear that far from Beijing abandoning its plans to construct a road in the area, the Chinese have actually proceeded with their road building agenda in the region. When the satellite images of the past many months were examined, it became clear that the Chinese have built new stretches of road in the area; that two new stretches were constructed as recently as October to December 2017.
Pictures taken in December 2017 show road construction just 4.5 km from Indian post (and the site of the standoff between India and China). Additional stretches have been constructed at locations that are detrimental to India’s strategic interest in the area. In addition, about a thousand Chinese soldiers will be positioned in the area throughout winter for the first time. Indian troops are also positioned in the area. So clearly, with the Chinese continuing to do as they please in what is essentially disputed territory, the Doklam issue is far from resolved in the way that is satisfactory to Indian interests.
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