Recently a Chinese journalist had tweeted, which was later deleted, the map of a new village of the country.
- Satellite imagery analysts have that claimed the village named ‘Pangda’ was two kilometres inside Bhutanese territory and near the Doklam Plateau.
- Bhutan’s officials denied the village was on their territory. Bhutan’s Ambassador in India Vetsop Namgyel said that there is no Chinese village inside Bhutan.
- Chinese media Global Times, has claimed that this border village is built by China near Bhutan was on Chinese territory, but released images of the village show its location on territory disputed by the two countries (China and Bhutan).
- The area is east of the India-Bhutan-China trijunction on the Doklam plateau.
- Global Times said, ’27 households with 124 people voluntarily moved from Shangdui village of Duina prefecture of Yadong county to Pangda village in September 2020.’ It further said that Pangda village is located on the west bank of the Yadong River.
- India and Bhutan consider the Doklam plateau as an integral part of Bhutan. China, however, sees it as an extension of its Chumbi Valley, the wedge of land that lies between Sikkim and Bhutan.
- The Doklam plateau is about 89 sq km in area, with a width of less than 10 km.
(References: The Hindu, Print and Global Times)
