External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj discussed a “range of issues” with Bhutanese Foreign Minister Damcho Dorji on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC conference of India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Thailand in Kathmandu, MEA officials said on Friday, but made no comment on the ongoing Doklam standoff between the Indian and Chinese troops in the territory claimed by Bhutan.
After the meeting, Mr. Dorji told reporters only that he hoped, “the situation in Doklam will be resolved peacefully and amicably.” The Foreign Ministers’ meeting was the first high-level contact between India and Bhutan since the standoff began on June 16 after Indian troops went onto the Doklam plateau to hold off a Chinese PLA team that was building a road Bhutan objected to.
As the standoff enters the third month, diplomats say the next two weeks will be crucial to the effort. China’s top communist party leaders are understood to have been meeting at the party’s “retreat” at the seaside resort of Beidaihe, an annual unofficial conclave, where the détente with India will no doubt be discussed, and a coordinated signal on the road ahead will be sent out, ahead of this year’s Autumn party conclave.
“What needs to be seen is what happens in the next few days, and to watch the signals that China gives out after this crucial meeting closely,” former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said.
In an article, Mr. Saran had recounted that the decision by Chinese leader Mao to launch a “major border war” against India was also taken at the ‘Beidaihe conference’ in August 1962. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech next week will also be watched closely for references to the current standoff with China. Last year, amid tensions with Pakistan, Mr. Modi had referred to India’s support to Balochistan at the August 15 speech.
