China has constructed new villages in Bhutan territory near Doklam over the last year, new satellite images have revealed.
According to the images shared by open-source intelligence analyst ‘DetResFa’, four villages were built by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in about 100 sq.km. area between May 2020 and November 2021.
It is very likely that the construction started at the same time when the PLA ingressed into Indian territory at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh and the Sikkim sector.
Construction activity started between 2020-21
In a tweet, ‘DetResFa’ said, “Disputed land between #Bhutan & #China near Doklam shows construction activity between 2020-21, multiple new villages spread through an area roughly 100 km² now dot the landscape, is this part of a new agreement or enforcement of #China’s territorial claims?”
The village is near the Siliguri corridor, also known as India’s ‘chicken neck’.
This new construction on Bhutanese territory is a serious cause of concern for India as the Indian military is virtually responsible for protecting the ‘Land Of The Thunder Dragon’ from any external threat.
India and China were locked in the stand-off for over 70 days in the Doklam plateau after New Delhi objected to Beijing’s infrastructural development work in the area.
Bhutan, China signed pact on border talks in October
China then claimed that there was a boundary dispute between Bhutan and China and to which India had no claims, however, facing stiff opposition from the Indian forces, it had to retreat from the area.
This development comes after China and Bhutan signed a pact on a three-step roadmap to resolve their boundary disputes.
Responding to this, India said that “it has noted the development”.
Boundary negotiations between Bhutan and China began in 1984 and the two sides have held 24 rounds of boundary talks and 10 rounds of meeting at the expert group level.
