Bhutan and China hold 12th Expert Group Meeting on Bhutan-China Border in Thimpu

New Delhi: Bhutan and China held the 12th Expert Group Meeting (EGM) in Thimpu on 24-25 May, where a ‘positive consensus' was reached, a Bhutanese foreign ministry statement said on Friday.

The Bhutanese delegation was led by Letho Tobdhen Tangbi, Secretary of the International Boundaries, and the Chinese delegation was led by Hong Liang, Director-General of the Department Boundary and Ocean Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China.

Bhutan newspaper said that the two sides reviewed the positive consensus reached at the 11th EGM in Kunming, Bhutan and China held frank and constructive discussions to implement the Three-Step Roadmap. They expressed satisfaction with the progress made in implementing the Roadmap during the 12th EGM in Thimphu.

The two sides also reiterated the importance of increasing the frequency of their meetings to make further progress in its implementation. They agreed to hold the next EGM in Beijing at an early date.

The two sides also agreed to hold the 25th Round of Bhutan-China Boundary Talks as soon as possible at mutually convenient dates.

According to officials, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a ‘Three-Step Roadmap’ was signed in October 2021 to help speed up the boundary talks between the two countries. The text of the document has not been made public to date.

The two countries have been involved in border negotiations since 1984 and have had nearly 24 rounds of talks since then before they signed the MoU in 2021.

According to a Global Times report on Friday, China and Bhutan share a 600-kilometre border, with the disputed areas mainly located in the western and northern parts of the country, constituting an area of about 5,000 square kilometres.

China and Bhutan do not have formal diplomatic relations. The Chinese Embassy in New Delhi coordinates Beijing’s ties with Thimpu. Meanwhile, New Delhi and Thimpu enjoy good strategic and defence relations and signed a friendship treaty in 1949.

India continues to worry about the positioning of China around the Doklam Tri-Junction, One of the areas between Bhutan, China and India.

In 2017, the Doklam Plateau became the site of a military face-off between the Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) after New Delhi moved its soldiers to Bhutan to prevent the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) from road construction. The military standoff lasted for 73 days.

The road at the Doklam Plateau would have provided access to the Jhamperi Ridge, which overlooks India’s “chicken-neck corridor” -- a narrow strip of land connecting India’s north-eastern states to the western part.