India should not expect China to compromise

Ever since India sent its troops across the Sikkim section of the border into Donglang area of China on June 18, sparking a tense face-off between soldiers of the two countries, no progress has been made in dissolving the tensions.

One of the arguments that India has used to justify its troops illegally crossing the delimited Sikkim section of the China-India boundary, which is mutually recognized by the two sides, is that it claims the area where China is constructing a road belongs to Bhutan, with whom it has a friendship treaty.

However, although the boundary is yet to be demarcated officially, China and Bhutan have a basic consensus on the boundary alignment, and China has been strictly observing this. Its road building activities do not breach any agreement with the country or undermine the status quo.