More than two months have passed since Indian border troops trespassed into the Donglang (Doklam) area, part of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

India first claimed it to be a response to the Chinese army crossing the border and advancing into Indian territory.

However, after this first excuse was refuted, India backtracked on the principle of estoppel under international law and produced a second falsehood that the Convention Between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet signed in 1890 did not delimit the boundary of Tibet and Sikkim--a claim which was also rebutted with facts.

Then a third excuse was created for the Donglang incident India had provoked, which has become the most commonly used, that India was sending troops to protect Bhutan's territorial integrity.

It is worthy of note that this "good deed" is reliant on an unequal treaty that goes against the norms of international relations in the 21st century. According to the Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Friendship Between the Government of India and the Government of Bhutan, India will take charge of all the foreign affairs and national defense of Bhutan.

Set aside the seriously outdated colonialism and hegemony embedded in this so-called friendship treaty and simply focus on India's conduct in the Donglang incident. Who is going to believe that Indian border troops invading Chinese territory is really an attempt to defend Bhutan?

The Bhutan statement

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bhutan made a statement two weeks after the Donglang incident supporting India's position, a statement that was not so much a falsehood issued by Bhutan's government as a misfortune for its people.

The nature of the statement and its timing offer powerful evidence that Bhutan is completely under the thumb of India, to the extent that it cannot express its own will in accordance with its own interests.

If the intrusion of Indian troops was carried out at the request of Bhutan, then why did Bhutan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs not issue a statement of gratitude and support at the very beginning? Why did Bhutan keep silent on the matter for two whole weeks?

The Chinese Government understands that Bhutan's statement was not made of its own will, and it is precisely for this reason that the Chinese Government has chosen not to challenge it.

China is clear about and understands Bhutan's difficulties, and will do everything it can to avoid penalizing Bhutan for India's adventurism and rash actions.

The location of trespass

In addition to the timing of Bhutan's statement, we should attach more attention to the location where the Indian troops crossed the border line, which helps clarify the matter.

India claims that the Donglang area is disputed territory between China and Bhutan, but the boundary crossed by its troops is actually the delimited China-India border in the Sikkim sector.

Whatever obligations or commitments exist in the treaty between India and Bhutan, they cannot possibly give India the right to violate the territorial integrity of a third party.

It cannot have been due to a technical error by India's decision-makers that Indian troops did not enter the Donglang area from the Bhutan sector.

This can only be construed as a refusal on the part of Bhutan to support Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's adventurism, in spite of the strict control imposed on Bhutan.

If India had crossed Bhutan's territory to advance into China, this would have provided some pretext for India to claim it was defending Bhutan.

This is a very obvious point, and the only possible answer is that Bhutan refused to let India through.

Victim of dangerous game

However, Bhutan's reluctance does not absolve it of responsibility for the incident. Bhutan and its relations with China have suffered from Modi's adventurism.

Boundary demarcation is a bilateral matter between China and Bhutan. It has nothing to do with India. With a friendly and constructive attitude in the face of their difficulties, China and Bhutan have been trying for years to tackle their border issue so as to achieve favorable conditions for the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, the border area between China and Bhutan has always enjoyed peace and tranquility.

India's attempt to create a new border dispute and delay the construction of infrastructure in China's border region is doomed to fail, but its attempt to destroy the progress of the normalization of relations between China and Bhutan has succeeded.

Neighbor ambitions

The Donglang incident has exposed to the world India's ambitions to control Bhutan.

But even under pressure, Bhutan understated its case. Although Bhutan delayed for two weeks before making a reluctant statement in support of India's stand, it made no suggestion that it had "invited" India to the Donglang area, which would have provided the excuse that India was acting to "defend Bhutan."

It would appear that India is forcing Bhutan to concede rather than defending it.

However, it seems that India has forgotten one issue: When Indian troops have to unconditionally withdraw from the Chinese territory--which is inevitable--will its hegemony in Bhutan remain indestructible?

This is an edited version of an article first published on Cnmatters.com. The author is director of the Center for South Asian Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Copyedited by Chris Surtees

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