China building villages near Doklam in Bhutan: Satellite data

China has built at least 22 villages and settlements over the past eight years within territory that has traditionally been part of Bhutan, with eight villages coming up in areas in proximity to the strategic Doklam plateau since 2020, according to satellite imagery. Since 2016, when China first built a village in territory understood to be part of Bhutan, Chinese authorities have completed 22 villages and settlements consisting of an estimated 2,284 residential units and relocated almost 7,000 people to previously unpopulated areas of Bhutan, according to a recent report by Robert Barnett, research associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies. China has annexed about 825 sq km “that was formerly within Bhutan”, constituting little more than 2% of the country’s territory, according to the report titled “Forceful Diplomacy: China’s cross-border villages in Bhutan”. Barnett wrote in the report that China’s objectives in Bhutan’s western sector “have been focused on acquiring and securing the Doklam plateau and adjoining areas”. Ashok Kantha, who served as India’s envoy to Beijing during 2014-16 and is an honorary fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, said China’s construction of villages within Bhutanese territory amounted to a violation of the agreement signed by the two countries in December 1998 on peace and tranquillity in border areas.