Title:
Non-Diplomatic Relations between Bhutan and China: A Historical and Contemporary Perspective
Speaker:
Sonam Kinga (Royal Institute of Governance and Strategic Studies / Visiting Research Scholar, CSEAS)
Abstract:
Among the fourteen neighbors of China, Bhutan is the only country with whom it has no diplomatic relations. Bhutan closed its border with Tibet in 1959 and has remained so for the last sixty-six years. Its official position has been NOT to have diplomatic relations with five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council so that it does not become entangled in big power politics. However, the underlying factor has been India’s security considerations. Located between its two giant neighbors, Bhutan’s strategic geo-political importance exceeds its small geographic and demographic sizes.
Despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations, Bhutan and China had met twenty-four times over the last forty years to hold talks over disputed boundaries. China had proposed the establishment of diplomatic relations while the boundary talks continue. Bhutan wishes to resolve the boundary disputes first. The boundary disputes have been a reformulation of imperial China’s claim on Bhutan. It saw a major policy adjustment after the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949. By recasting its territorial claim within the framework of boundary disputes, it recognized Bhutan as a different country. Formal recognition of Bhutan’s sovereignty came in 1998 by signing an agreement.
This presentation brings together perspectives from different scholarship on Bhutan-China relations to develop a comprehensive work that connects historical context with contemporary geo-politics in the Himalayas. It attempts to answer this question: when can the non-diplomatic relations translate to formal diplomatic relations?
Speaker’s Bio:
Sonam Kinga is a member of the teaching faculty at the Royal Institute of Governance and Strategic Studies (RIGSS) in Bhutan. He is also a guest lecturer for Bhutan’s National Service Program. He is currently a Visiting Research Scholar at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University in Japan and upcoming World Fellow at the International Leadership Centre, Yale University, USA. He was earlier the Chairperson of Druk Gyalpo’s Institute, Chairperson of De-suung Skilling Program, Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Developing Economies (IDE) in Tokyo, founding editor of Bhutan Observer and a researcher at the Centre for Bhutan Studies. His research interests focus on Bhutanese history, politics, culture, foreign relations and oral literature. His works include Changes in Bhutanese Social Structure (2002), Polity Kingship and Democracy (2009), Democratic Transition in Bhutan (2019) and Missions from Dharmarajas to Gorkharajas: Bhutan-Nepal Relations since the 17th Century (2024) which were published by IDE, Bhutan’s Ministry of Education, Routledge and RIGSS respectively. His Majesty the King conferred upon him the honor of Red Scarf and the title of “Dasho” in 2012 and the Gold Medal (National Order of Merit) in 2014.
