Even though the Doklam standoff at the India-China border in Sikkim ended on August 28, the issue still seems to be a thorn in the flesh when it comes to the two countries. It is now being said that China's People's Liberation Army is once again making its appearance at Doklam and the number seems to be gradually increasing.
Amid these reports, India's Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar met senior Bhutanese officials in Thimphu on Tuesday, October 3, and discussed an array of topics including the deployment of PLA troops at the trijunction, which has been irking India as well as Bhutan for a while now.
This is the first visit to Bhutan that any Indian official has made since the Doklam standoff ended and Jaishankar met Bhutan's monarch Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay, reported the Telegraph. He also met Foreign Minister Lyonpo Damcho Dorji.
However, details of the meeting haven't been made public yet.
Bhutan has also been expressing worries over China delaying the next round of negotiations to discuss the disputed China-Bhutan boundary. While the last round was held in 2016, China has made no comments on this year's negotiations, leading Bhutan to fear that Beijing may cancel the talks, reported the Economic Times.
The Doklam standoff began on June 15 and made quite some news. After India and China reached an understanding on August 28, Indian PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Xiamen and decided to come up with more confidence-building measures so that such issues don't crop up in the future. However, it looks like things at the Indo-China border are yet to get back to complete normalcy.
The Indian Army and China's People's Liberation Army also did not take part in the traditional Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) on Sunday, October 1, which marked China's 68th national day.
Before the BPM is conducted, both the sides usually give a confirmation on it a few days in advance, but this time the Chinese side reportedly did not send an invite to the Indian side.
"The People's Liberation Army did not send us an invite for the ceremonial meeting at the five BPM points (Daulat Beg Oldi and Chushul in Ladakh, Bum La and Kibithu in Arunachal, and Nathu La in Sikkim) on October 1," the Times of India quoted a source as saying.
India and China are also supposed to take part in the 7th edition of the annual "Hand-in-Hand" exercise this month, but the details are yet to be worked out and there has reportedly been "no forward movement." India has sent numerous reminders to Beijing regarding the exercise, but the neighbour is yet to respond to it.
"The exercise is unlikely this year," the source told the daily.
