Bhutan and China have signed an MoU on a "three-step roadmap" to resolve their lingering boundary dispute. The signing is significant as China is locked in disputes with India, Nepal and Bhutan on its southern borders.

India has reacted cautiously to the Memorandum of Understanding between the two nations.

Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said: "We have noted the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bhutan and China today. You are aware that Bhutan and China have been holding boundary negotiations since 1984. India has similarly been holding boundary negotiations with China".

In a press release on Thursday, Bhutan said its Foreign Minister Lyonpo Tandi Dorji and China's Assistant Foreign Minister Wu Jianghao signed the MoU on the "three-step roadmap" for expediting the Bhutan-China boundary negotiations.

The Bhutanese statement said: "Boundary negotiations between Bhutan and China began in 1984 and the two sides have held twenty four rounds of Boundary Talks and ten rounds of meeting at the Expert Group level. The negotiations which have been conducted in a spirit of understanding and accommodation have been guided by the 1988 Joint Communique on the Guiding Principles for the Settlement of the Boundary and the 1998 Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace, Tranquility and status quo in the Bhutan-China Border Areas".

China has staked claim to different parts of the Bhutanese territory, including some that are deep inside the Himalayan country. Bhutan-China border talks are significant as the two nations have already held over 24 rounds of boundary talks to resolve the dispute.

The China-Bhutan border issue came to the fore in 2017 when China tried to construct a road on the Doklam plateau that serves as a tri-junction between Bhutan, India and China. India sent forces, resulting in an over two month long stand-off with China. 

The communist giant is locked in confrontations with most of its neighbours to its south and its east. It has encroached upon different tracts of territory in eastern Ladakh in 2020 resulting in a large number of casualties to both Chinese and Indian troops. The stand-off still continues.

Chinese forces have also been accused of encroachmdent in Nepal.

Along its maritime frontiers, China is locked in territorial confrontations with Japan and Taiwan. Also, in the South China Sea it has running disputes with the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.

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