Bhutan–China relations
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The
Kingdom of Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
and the People's Republic of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
do not maintain official diplomatic relations, and relations are historically tense.A New Bhutan Calling
(14 May 2008). OutlookIndia.com. Accessed 30 May 2008.
The PRC shares a contiguous border of 470 kilometers with Bhutan and its territorial disputes with Bhutan have been a source of potential conflict. Since the 1980s, the two governments have conducted regular talks on border and security issues aimed at reducing tensions.


Background

Bhutan has long had strong cultural, historical, religious, and economic connections to Tibet. Relations with Tibet were strained when China took over Tibet in the 1950s. Unlike Tibet, Bhutan had no history of being under the
suzerainty Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...
of China nor being under British suzerainty during the British Raj. Bhutan's border with Tibet has never been officially recognized, much less demarcated. The
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
officially maintains a territorial claim on parts of Bhutan to this day. The territorial claim was maintained by the People's Republic of China after the Chinese Communist Party took control of mainland China in the Chinese Civil War. With the increase in soldiers on the Chinese side of the Sino-Bhutanese border after the 17-point agreement between the Tibetan government and the central government of the PRC, Bhutan withdrew its representative from Lhasa. The
1959 Tibetan uprising The 1959 Tibetan uprising (also known by other names) began on 10 March 1959, when a revolt erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, which had been under the effective control of the People's Republic of China since the Seventeen Point Agreemen ...
and the
14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
's arrival in neighbouring India made the security of Bhutan's border with China a necessity for Bhutan. An estimated 6,000 Tibetans fled to Bhutan and were granted asylum, although Bhutan subsequently closed its border to China, fearing more refugees.Bhutan: a land frozen in time
(9 February 1998). BBC. Accessed 30 May 2008.


History

Bhutan has historical ties to Tibet through their culture, history, religion, and economy . However, their relationship became tense after Bhutan supported the British Empire and the
British invasion of Tibet The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the Younghusband expedition, began in December 1903 and lasted until September 1904. The expedition was effectively a temporary invasion by British Indian Armed Forces under the auspices of the ...
. With the signing of an agreement between the People's Republic of China and the Tibetan locals, and the deployment of troops on the border between China and Bhutan, Bhutan withdrew its representatives in the People's Republic of China from Lhasa. After the 1959 Tibetan riots and the arrival of the Dalai Lama in neighbouring India, some 6,000 Tibetans fled to Bhutan and were granted asylum. Bhutan closed its border with China, afraid that there would be an influx of more refugees. Bhutan is constrained by the Indian government, and therefore needs India's approval when developing diplomatic relations with other countries. Bhutan has no diplomatic relations with any of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and is the only UN member state in the world that has not established diplomatic relations with either the People's Republic of China or the Republic of China. It is the only country of the PRC's bordering neighbours that does not have diplomatic relations with them.


Boundary Issues

With the entry of the People's Liberation Army into Tibet, some Tibetan settlements in western Tibet, formerly controlled by the Bhutanese government, came under the control of the People's Republic of China. According to the official statement by the King of Bhutan to the National Assembly, there are still four disputed areas between Bhutan and China.


Mitigation

In 1974, Bhutan invited Ma Muming, Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in India, to attend the coronation of the fourth Bhutanese King
Jigme Singye Wangchuck Jigme Singye Wangchuck ( dz, འཇིགས་མེད་སེང་གེ་དབང་ཕྱུག་, ; born 11 November 1955) is a member of the House of Wangchuck who was the king of Bhutan (Druk Gyalpo) from 1972 until his abdicati ...
. In 1983, Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian and Bhutanese Foreign Minister
Dawa Tsering Dawa Tsering served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan in the 1980s and 1990s, carrying out negotiations to improve Sino-Bhutanese relations. He also worked to strengthen the close relations with the Government of India. Life and career ...
held talks in New York on establishing bilateral relations. In 1984, China and Bhutan began direct negotiations on the border dispute. Since then, the two countries have taken turns holding border meetings in their respective capitals. China and Bhutan signed a bilateral agreement on their border disputes on the 12th boundary meeting in 1998. In the agreement, China reaffirmed its respect for Bhutan's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the two sides also proposed the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.India and the upcoming Druk democracy
(May 2007). HimalMag.com. Accessed 30 May 2008.
Bhutan Gazette
(7 June 2007). BhutanGazette. Accessed 30 May 2008.
However, China later built roads in the territory claimed by Bhutan, and China was accused of violating the agreement and provoking tension. In 2002, China submitted some files to prove its sovereignty over the disputed land, and the two sides reached a provisional agreement after consultation. In June 2012, then Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy ...
met with Bhutanese Prime Minister
Jigme Thinley ''Lyonpo'' Jigme Yoser Thinley (Dzongkha: འཇིགས་མེད་འོད་ཟེར་འཕྲིན་ལས་; Wylie:'' 'Jigs-med 'Od-zer 'Phrin-las'') (born 9 September 1952) is a Bhutanese politician who was Prime Minister of Bh ...
, which was the first meeting between the two countries' heads of government. On October 14, 2021, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Jianghao and Bhutanese Foreign Minister Thandit Dorji signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the "Three-Step Roadmap" for accelerating the Sino-Bhutan border negotiations by video in Beijing and Thimphu, respectively. However, according to Indian geopolitical expert Brahma Chellaney , Xi Jinping is taking his South China Sea strategy to the Himalayas, and several new Chinese villages have crept into internationally-recognized Bhutanese territory, which he sees as proof that China continues to use its South China Sea strategy to unilaterally change the status quo and coerce Bhutan into accepting its territory and military incursions.


Economic and Trade Relations

In 2011, the bilateral trade volume was 17 million USD, and in 2012, the bilateral trade volume was 15.62 million USD, down 10.5% year-on-year. In 2013, the bilateral trade volume was USD 17.414 million, up 11.5% year-on-year. In 2015, the trade volume between China and Bhutan was 10.029 million USD, down 8.2% year-on-year; of which China's exports were 9.949 million USD, down 10.5%, with imports worth 350,000 USD, up 2.35 times year-on-year. By the end of 2015, the number of Bhutan's investment projects in China was 3, with no input. China had no direct investment in Bhutan, but during the same period, China signed US$11.06 million in engineering contracts in Bhutan, with a completed turnover of US$1.02 million. The two countries' audit departments exchanged visits in 2001 and 2002, and in April 2005, Assistant Minister of Culture Ding Wei led a Chinese art troupe to Bhutan for its first successful performance, and in June 2006, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission of Bhutan visited Hong Kong. In August 2009, the Minister of Home Affairs and Culture of Bhutan, Minjur Dorji, came to China to attend the "Roundtable of Asian Ministers of Culture" held in Ordos, Inner Mongolia. In September 2010, the Living Buddha of Songchu in Bhutan made a pilgrimage to the Tibet Autonomous Region, and in November,
Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck Prince ''Dasho'' Jigyel Ugyen Wangchuck (born 16 July 1984) is a Bhutanese prince. Born as the second son of the King of Bhutan Jigme Singye Wangchuck, he was the heir presumptive to the throne of Bhutan until 5 February 2016, when his nephew Ji ...
, Prince of Bhutan and President of the Bhutan Olympic Committee, attended the opening ceremony of the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou. In November 2015, Bhutanese government officials came to China to observe the Sino-Bhutan soccer match and visited Beijing and Lhasa. in October 2016, the Minister of Agriculture of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Yoshi Dorji, led an interdepartmental delegation to visit China. In July 2018, Deputy Foreign Minister Kong Hyun-woo visited Bhutan and held talks with the current and former Kings of Bhutan, Prime Minister Lotay Tshering and Foreign Minister
Tandi Dorji Tandi Dorji ( dz, རྟ་མགྲིན་རྡོ་རྗེ་, Wylie : Rta mgrin rdo rje; born 2 September 1968) is a Bhutanese politician who has been Foreign Minister for Bhutan since November 2018. He has been a member of the National ...
.


See also

* Bhutan–India relations *
Five Fingers of Tibet The Five Fingers of Tibet () is a Chinese foreign policy attributed to Mao Zedong that considers Tibet to be China's right hand palm, with five fingers on its periphery: Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and North-East Frontier Agency (now known as A ...
, foreign policy of the PRC which calls for the annexation of, among other territories, Bhutan * List of territorial disputes#Asia


References


Further reading

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhutan - People's Republic of China Relations
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
Bilateral relations of China