Don't lie on Doklam, it belongs to us, Bhutan tells China

Wang, who is the Deputy Director General of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs in China's foreign ministry, reportedly conveyed this information to a visiting Indian media delegation...

China's claim that Doklam belongs to them is wrong and we never acknowledged it said Bhutan. China had said that Bhutan had agreed that Doklam belongs to the Chinese. This has however been rubbished by Bhutan.

Official sources in the Bhutanese Government told ANI over phone, "Our position on the border issue of Doklam is very clear. Please refer to our statement which has been published on the web site of Bhutan's foreign ministry on June 29, 2017."

The Bhutanese sources were responding to a claim made by China's top diplomat, Wang Wenli, that Bhutan had conveyed to Beijing through the diplomatic channels that the area of the standoff was not its territory.

Wang, who is the Deputy Director General of the Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs in China's foreign ministry, reportedly conveyed this information to a visiting Indian media delegation on Wednesday.

She, however, did not provide any evidence of her claim, which official sources in Bhutan said is at complete variance with Thimphu's stated position and actions.

While acknowledging that Bhutan had protested to the Chinese government about Beijing violating a bilateral pact by allowing its troops to construct a road in the Doklam area on 16 June, Wang was quoted, as saying, "After the incident, the Bhutanese made it very clear to us that the place where the trespassing happened is not Bhutan's territory."

She further was quoted, as saying that "Bhutanese find it very strange that the Indian border troops are on the Chinese soil," and implied that her views have been gleaned from Bhutanese state media and legal blogs which have "more convincing information".

Official sources in Bhutan, however, firmly countered this claim today by saying that their country's foreign ministry has clearly emphasized in their June 29 statement that, "Bhutan has conveyed to the Chinese side, both on the ground and through the diplomatic channel, that the construction of the (motorable) road inside Bhutanese territory is a direct violation of the (written) agreements (of 1988 and 1998) and affects the process of demarcating the boundary between our two countries."

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