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Bhutan NATIONAL SECURITY, BHUTAN
Strategic Location
Bhutan is a strategic buffer state wedged between India
and
China. After centuries of close ties to Tibet and less
definite
connections to China, Bhutan developed a southerly
political
orientation, first with British India and then with
independent
India. British troops in or near Bhutan presented a
considerable
deterrent to China from the eighteenth century until the
early
twentieth century. Britain's withdrawal from India in 1947
and
India's replacement of Britain as Bhutan's protector
coincided with
the communist military victory in China in 1949.
Because of its location in India's strategic defense
system,
Bhutan has long had foreign defense arrangements, first
with
Britain and then with independent India. Despite common
international policy goals of Indian and Chinese leaders,
territorial problems between the two powers continued to
define
Bhutan's buffer status. The 1962 border war between India
and China
had serious implications for Bhutan and could have
embroiled it in
the fighting. Thimphu permitted Indian troops to cross
Bhutanese
territory and Chinese airplanes allegedly violated
Bhutanese air
space. In addition, China reportedly had six divisions
stationed
near the borders of Bhutan, Sikkim, and Nepal. China had
its own
boundary disputes with Bhutan, and Chinese troops
reportedly
breached the Bhutanese frontier on several occasions in
1966, 1970,
and 1979. In each case, New Delhi attempted to represent
Thimphu's
interests in protest notes to Beijing, all of which were
rejected.
As the Chinese threat grew, India became increasingly
involved
in the buildup of Bhutan's indigenous defensive
capability,
specifically in the training and equipping of the Royal
Bhutan Army
(see Armed Forces
, this ch.). The headquarters of the
Indian
Military Training Team (IMTRAT) in Bhutan was located in
Ha
District, which is adjacent to Tibet's Chumbi Valley,
where China
routinely kept large concentrations of troops, at the
junction of
the Bhutanese, Indian, and Chinese borders.
The 1949 Indo-Bhutanese treaty makes no reference to
India's
defense of Bhutan except what might be inferred from
Article 2 of
the treaty. Prime Minister Nehru, however, declared in
1958 that
acts of aggression against Bhutan would be taken as acts
of
aggression against India itself. Also, by the terms of the
1949
treaty, Bhutan has the right to import arms, munitions,
and other
military matériel from or through India as long as the
Indian
government is satisfied that such imports do not threaten
India.
Bhutan, on the other hand, agreed not to export or allow
private
citizens to export any arms, ammunition, or military
equipment. The
Indian Ministry of Defence also made provisions for the
rapid
deployment of helicopter-borne troops to Bhutan in the
event of a
Chinese invasion and made related plans for air force
operations.
Suggestions from within the Bhutanese government to allow
Indian
troops to be stationed in Bhutan were rejected. An
important
defensive consideration has been the construction of
extensive
roads with major assistance from the Indian government's
paramilitary Border Roads Organization.
Data as of September 1991
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