China doubles down on boundary claims
“Bhutan has sent a strong message to China,” said one source, adding that Bhutan’s response was also given through the GEF council meeting where China had raised the issue. At the time, Bhutan had assumed that since the Chinese representative was not a Foreign Ministry official, but a Deputy Director General (DDG) in the Chinese Financial and Monetary Cooperation Division, that the decision to stop the grant, which failed, was not thought through. According to the GEF Council Chairman’s summary released on June 16, of the virtual meeting held on June 23, Aparna Subramani, the World Bank official representing Bhutan, as well as India, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka, had said that “Bhutan totally rejects the claim made by the Council Member of China. Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is an integral and sovereign territory of Bhutan and at no point during the boundary discussions between Bhutan and China has it featured as a disputed area”. “Bhutan hoped its response would close the matter,” the source added. According to Bhutanese experts, the claim on Sakteng will open new fronts of negotiation when the next round of boundary talks are held. “Such claims undermine the boundary talks and wild claims on either side by officials will only exacerbate issues as Bhutan too can lay claims far north,” said Tenzing Lamsang, Editor of The Bhutanese newspaper in Thimphu, in a series of tweets last week. “Ultimately Bhutan and China need to resolve its boundary disputes or such false claims will come up as a pressure tactic,” he added.
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