Unverified Satellite Images Suggest China Built Village Inside Bhutan

13:22 GMT, 20 July 2022
© Photo : Maxar
Rishikesh Kumar
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The People's Liberation Army and the Indian Army were locked in a 73-day stand-off at the Doklam tri-junction in 2017 after Bhutan accused China of unilaterally attempting to change the status quo in the Doklam area of the Bhutan-Tibet border.
Sputnik
China has allegedly built a village named Pangda inside the Bhutanese territory, unverified satellite images released by US-based Maxar Technologies showed on Tuesday.
An NDTV report devoted to this satellite imagery claimed that the village is located 9km east of Doklam, a strategically important tri-junction that gives China a strategic edge over India.

India destroyed Chinese infrastructure in the Doklam region in 2017, resulting in a two-month-long border stand-off between the two armies.

The report claimed the village is entirely inhabited, with cars parked at the doorstep of virtually every home.

"The new satellite images, sourced from Maxar, indicate that a second village in the Amo Chu river valley is now virtually complete while China has stepped up construction of a third village or habitation further south," the report read.

China had in the past countered the claim, saying that the village Pangda is located inside the Tibet region.
Authorities in Yadong county of the South-west China's Tibet Autonomous Region confirmed that 27 households containing 124 people voluntarily moved from Shangdui village of Duina prefecture, Yadong county, to Pangda village in September 2020. In November 2020, Bhutan’s ambassador to India, Major General V. Namgyel, denied the reports about a Chinese village being built inside Bhutan.
The satellite images were released months after a "three-step roadmap" had been agreed upon between Bhutan and China to fast-track negotiations to resolve a long-standing border dispute. The Himalayan kingdom shares a border with China which is more than 400km.

India and Bhutan have a comprehensive agreement, named the India-Bhutan Friendship Treaty, which says, "neither government shall allow the use of its territory for activities harmful to the national security and interest of the other."

Based on this agreement, Indian troops crossed into Bhutan in 2017, preventing Chinese workers from carrying out their road construction near Doklam.
The treaty authorized India to guide its landlocked Himalayan neighbor on foreign policy and defense matters.
The reported village and road near the eastern flank of the Sino-India border comes at a time when the two armies are already engaged in a two-year stand-off in eastern Ladakh, located at the western section of the disputed border between the two Asian giants.
The Chinese military repeatedly indicated that the Doklam stand-off was not yet fully resolved.

"China strived to promote stability and security along the border with India, and has taken effective measures to create favorable conditions for the peaceful resolution of the Donglang (Doklam) stand-off," the 10-year white paper titled 'China's National Defence in the New Era,' read.

The 73-day Doklam stand-off started in June 2017 after Indian troops guarding the Sikkim sector objected to the Chinese Army's road construction at the tri-junction of India, China, and Bhutan.
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