A day after China signed a three-step roadmap with Bhutan for expediting the boundary negotiations, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a dig at GOI’s foreign policy calling it “how to lose friends and influence nobody.”

Reacting to the China-Bhutan pact, India said it is keeping a close watch on negotiations, as in the past, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had made attempts to encroach upon the strategic landmass of Bhutan in the Doklam area.

“We have noted the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bhutan and China today. You are aware that Bhutan and China have been holding boundary negotiations since 1984. India has similarly been holding boundary negotiations with China,” Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said.

In a statement, Bhutan said the MoU on the three-step roadmap will provide a fresh impetus to the boundary talks.

During the India-China stand-off in the Doklam plateau in 2017, Bhutan said the area belonged to it and India supported the Bhutanese claim.

India had strongly opposed the construction of the road at the Doklam tri-junction saying it would impact its overall security interests.

Bagchi did not reply to a question if the Bhutanese government had kept India in the loop about the MoU with China.

The signing of the pact comes amid a continuing standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in several friction points in eastern Ladakh.

The Congress and the Wayanad MP have been highly critical of the Modi government’s China policy.  

On Thursday, the grand old party questioned Home Minister Amit Shah over Chinese incursions along the border and asked by when the government would push them out of Indian territory.

Instead of fake chest-thumping, Shah should take stock of the internal and external security threats as he has failed on these fronts, Randeep Singh Surjewala had said.