By Tashi Dorji
National Assembly (Bhutan), June 24: With growing concerns raised by the people the 85th session of the National Assembly resolved that the government should continue the ongoing Bhutan-China boundary discussions and come to an agreement as soon as possible.
The issue was raised by the Dagana chimi, Karma Samdrup, who said that the people were genuinely concerned about the boundary issue because they felt that it was directly related to the security of the country. “A clear boundary is like a wall protecting the precious gem,” he said. “We learnt from the militant problem in the south that, if we do not act in time, the problem will only deteriorate.”
The Samdrup Jongkhar chimi, Yonten Thinley, said more and more people believed that the security and independence of the country was at stake. “Following the 83rd and 84th sessions, when we had to explain that the Chinese had already constructed six roads to our northern border, some of them even crossing the border, the people were shocked,” he said. “They feel that, for a small country, losing even a small piece of land would be a big loss. We are being pressed to do something and must convey this to the government most urgently.”
The Samste chimi, Sangay Khandu, reminded the National Assembly that the boundary discussions had been going on for the past 22 years. “We would like to know when the government expects to reach an agreement,” he said, adding that a clear solution must be found before the political changes in 2008.
The Haa chimi reminded the National Assembly that the people had raised the issue in the 83rd Assembly session because they were alarmed when they found out that the Chinese were building roads to the northern border. He said that there were major problems with three of the six roads because they were on Bhutanese territory.
One road was at Shakhatoe, where the road had penetrated quite deeply inside Bhutanese soil. He explained that the people of Haa had always used Shakhatoe as a grazing area for their yaks. Another area of concern was in Dolepchen where the Chinese started constructing roads last year.
The Secretary for International Boundaries, Dasho Pema Wangchuk, informed the National Assembly that the concerns expressed by the Bhutanese people had already been conveyed to the Chinese side during the second Expert Group Meeting held in July, 2005, in Thimphu. He said that the Chinese officials had responded by saying that the Bhutanese were over-reacting to the road constructions that were being carried out for the economic development of the western part of China, including Tibet. The Chinese had said that the roads would not affect Bhutan in any way and that “the work had been stopped in view of Bhutan’s concerns and friendly relations between the two countries.”
Dasho Pema Wangchuk informed the Assembly that further road construction work had not been observed after that, apart from maintenance and clearance activities on the roads that had been already constructed. He added that the next round of talks – the 18th round – was scheduled to be held in Beijing this year and the Bhutanese officials were waiting for confirmation from the Chinese government.
The Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, Zhamling Dorji, pointed out that the recorded land area of Bhutan was smaller than in the past. “The past records show that Bhutan had an area more than 46,000 square kilometers but the present figure has been decreased to a little more than 38,000 square kilometers,” he said. “This is a difference of about 8,000 square kilometres and it is a very big area. On one hand, we are conducting boundary discussions while, on the other hand, the area keeps decreasing. Nobody in the National Assembly ever explains why this is happening and nobody has ever asked.”
Providing a background on the issue, Dasho Pema Wangchuk explained that, when Bhutan introduced planned development in 1961, there was no map of the country. The government had asked India for help, following which the Indian survey department prepared a map for Bhutan. This map was used by Bhutan for a long time.
Between 1963 and 1971, Bhutan was able to finalise the boundary in the south, with India, but could not finalise the northern border, which made it difficult to establish an accurate map.
To get a better understanding of the northern boundary, Bhutan deployed a team of officials from the Survey department, along with people who knew the boundary, and verified the extent of the border, checked tax payments of the people living in the border areas, and the extent of the pasture land. After the survey a map was prepared and was presented to the 68th National Assembly in 1989, at a special session held in Lungtenphu.
This map has been presented to subsequent National Assembly sessions whenever necessary.
According to this map the maximum possible area of Bhutan was 38,394 square kilometres, Dasho Pema Wangchuk said. A copy of the map was even presented to the Chinese government.
Concluding the discussions the Speaker of the Assembly said that, in view of the concerns expressed by the people of Bhutan, the government should make every attempt to finalise the boundary with the Chinese government.
