Has China made a foray into neighboring Bhutan?

A few months after an impressive military clash with India, China again seems to be moving its pawns in the Himalayas. Satellite images taken by an American company on October 28, 2020 tend to show that the Middle Empire has built a large bunker along a disputed border with India and Bhutan, as reported by our colleagues at CNN , Tuesday November 24.

“There was clearly a significant construction activity this year” in the Doklam region, specifies the company Maxar Technologies, at the origin of these pictures. These include a newly built village on the Bhutanese side as well as a supply depot on the Chinese side.

General Vetsop Namgyel, Bhutan’s ambassador to India, immediately contested any presence of a “Chinese village inside Bhutan”. Chinese experts have also denied Maxar Technologies’ claims. The Doklam region, a thin strip of land bordering the three countries, is claimed by both China and Bhutan. It is also of strategic importance to India, as it lies close to the Siliguri Corridor, a vital artery between New Delhi and the country’s eight northeastern states.

Serial quarrels

This is not the first border dispute between these three players. In 2017, Bhutan had accused China of having built a road inside its territory, in “direct violation” of the obligations of a treaty signed between the two countries. China, which does not maintain relations with its neighbor, retorted that this region is an integral part of its territory.

Earlier this year, India and China crossed swords in the Himalayas, along another disputed border. This clash, which has claimed twenty lives, is the worst between the two countries since 1962. While the two countries have finally accepted the principle of de-escalation, satellite images from Maxar Technologies seem to show that China continues to decline. consolidate its position along the Himalayas.