copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-25): The agreement led to another duration of relative peace until on 16 June 2017 Chinese troops with construction vehicles and road-building equipment under the Belt and Road initiative began extending an existing road southward in Doklam, a territory which is claimed by both China as well as India's ally Bhutan. On June 18, 2017, around 270 Indian troops, with weapons and two bulldozers, entered Doklam to stop the Chinese troops from constructing the road assuming that the 2007 India-Bhutan Friendship Treaty was a enough of a reason for preventive action, to say nothing of their issues relating to national interests. Among other charges, China accused India of illegal intrusion into its territory, across what is called the mutually agreed China-India boundary, and violation of its territorial sovereignty and UN Charter. India accused China of changing the status quo in violation of a 2012 understanding between the two governments regarding the tri-junction boundary points and causing "security concerns", which were widely understood as at its concerns with the strategic Siliguri Corridor. The main reason for Delhi’s intervention was its fear that, if China controlled the Siliguri corridor "chicken’s neck", a thin strip of land just south of Doklam, it would cut off India from its northeastern states, including Arunachal Pradesh – over which China claims sovereignty.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-03-14): China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China Sea involve Vietnam (Paracel Islands, also known as Xisha Islands [西沙群島]), the Philippines (Scarborough Shoal, or Huangyan Island [黃岩島]), and parts of Spratly Islands [Nansha Islands, 南沙群島]), Malaysia (parts of Spratly Islands), Brunei (parts of Spratly Islands) and Taiwan. Last year, Beijing published a map claiming most of these territories as part of the People’s Republic of China. [...] In 2017, the Doklam plateau dispute erupted between India and China in the tri-junction area claimed by Bhutan, India and China. A platoon of Chinese border guards demolished Royal Bhutan Army bunkers. Subsequently, a Chinese road construction crew arrived, accompanied by more Chinese soldiers. India, Bhutan’s de facto security guarantor under the 1949 Treaty of Friendship, sent troops to obstruct the Chinese construction. After intermittent skirmishes, both sides agreed to withdraw forces. [...] If Beijing successfully acquires Doklam without firing a shot, this could become its new expansion strategy. It would also undermine India’s role as the de facto security guarantor for Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, as well as for the exiled Tibetan community.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-06-20): Another example of a PLA psychological terror campaign is its operations against India’s forces during the 2017 confrontation on the Doklam plateau. The PLA template was to trumpet its plans to attack India if it does not acquiesce to Beijing’s demands. The plans were conveyed through propaganda platforms such as China Daily, with relentless threats such as "the countdown has begun (for) all out confrontation." The PLA attempted to intimidate leaders and soldiers with videos showing military exercises in Tibet, not far from the Indian border, and military equipment and materiel were moved closer to the front line to indicate preparations for war. Further, propagandists revived memories of India’s devastating defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian War to demoralize Indian soldiers. Beijing will likely employ similar diverse narratives and strategies against adversaries during wartime.37
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-08): Doklam (Tibetan: འབྲོག་ལམ, Wylie: ‘brog lam, THL: drok lam),[1][a] called Donglang (Chinese: 洞朗) by China,[5][6] is an area in Chumbi Valley with a high plateau and a valley, lying between China's Yadong County to the north, Bhutan's Ha District to the east and India's Sikkim state to the west. Since the 1960s, China and Bhutan have disputed sovereignty over the Doklam area. The dispute has not been resolved despite several rounds of border negotiations between Bhutan and China.[3][7] The area is of strategic importance to all three countries.[3][8][9] [...] - ^ "Sikkim standoff: China rejects Bhutan's claim, says Doklam has historically been their territory". Firstpost. 30 June 2017. Archived from the original on 16 August 2017.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-08-02): Indian forces last month entered the Doklam plateau, an area claimed by China and India’s ally, Bhutan, near the tri-junction point of the three countries, in order to prevent People’s Liberal Army (PLA) personnel from extending a road towards the militarily important Jam Pheri ridge. [...] While China might deem such costs to be worth absorbing in the event of a major threat to one of its core interests, it is implausible that Doklam – notwithstanding its position at the southern edge of Tibet – rises to this level. [...] While Doklam is on a much smaller scale, involving perhaps a few thousand troops within a kilometre of the site and probably fewer than 1,000 at the road terminus, it could show similar longevity.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2018-03-27): Doklam (or Zhonglan or Donglong) is a disputed area between China and Bhutan just like Jakarlung and Pasamlung. It is an area with a plateau and a valley which lies on the Bhutan-China border, near India. [...] The area of Doklam carries huge military advantage and if it falls into the hands of China, it will not only compromise the security of Bhutan but also of India. [...] However, on March 26, 2018, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Doklam belongs to China and India should have learned lessons from the stand-off last year.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-07-23): With the Doklam Plateau under Bhutan’s control, it provides India with access to that view. At present, India has a "major terrain advantage" over China vis-à-vis the Chumbi Valley. Should China take control over the Doklam Plateau, India would lose this advantage of carrying out a strategic offensive or counteroffensive from Sikkim. Additionally, it would give China "a launch pad for an offensive through the Rangpo River valley towards Kalimpong" in India to threaten the Siliguri Corridor, India’s tenuous territorial link to its restive Northeast. China’s interest in the Doklam Plateau stems from the strategic advantage it could gain in its border dispute with India. Its new claim over Sakteng is aimed at intimidating Bhutan into accepting the package deal — or face the consequences of Beijing’s rising territorial ambitions in the Himalayan kingdom. [...] Chinese claims over Doklam and Sakteng are different in that the latter has not figured in Chinese maps or in border talks with Bhutan so far, while Doklam is a key issue in the Sino-Bhutanese territorial dispute. However, there are similarities. Doklam’s importance to Bhutan stems from its pasture land, vital for a country that is predominantly mountainous. Still, it is to India that the plateau has greater geostrategic value. Likewise, the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary’s proximity to Tawang makes it strategically more important to India than Bhutan.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-07-07): India-China standoff: All you need to know about Doklam dispute [...] A Chinese government image claiming border trespasses by Indian troops at the Doklam plateau For centuries, the Doklam plateau, high up in the Himalayas, was a quiet grazing area for Bhutanese herdsmen. Prior to India's Independence, neither the British nor the Chinese seem to have shown any interest in it when they negotiated various border settlements between themselves. It was only after the 1962 border war between India and China that the narrow plateau that abuts the trijunction between India, China and Bhutan became a bone of contention.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-09-08): On June 8, a platoon-sized unit of Chinese border guards moved into territory claimed by both China and Bhutan, a client-state of India. They destroyed stone bunkers used sporadically by the Royal Bhutan Army, and shortly afterward a Chinese road construction crew arrived with excavators, bulldozers, and a larger military escort. On June 16, Indian troops arrived and blocked the road-building effort. The next two months saw periodic scuffles at Doklam, as well as a mass rock-fight (captured on video and posted to YouTube) by the disputed banks of the Pangong Lake 800 miles away. On August 28, both nations agreed to what India termed an "expeditious disengagement" of forces, and both declared this non-resolution a victory. [...] Moreover, a Chinese military presence at Doklam—particularly one with transportation infrastructure capable of supporting deeper incursions—would threaten a 17-mile-wide strip of land known as the Siliguri Corridor linking seven Northeastern Indian states to the rest of the country. The corridor is often referred to as India's "Chicken Neck"—and New Delhi had no intention of letting Beijing gain control of it. The 2007 treaty with Bhutan ominously notes (PDF) that "neither Government shall allow the use of its territory for activities harmful to the national security and interest of the other." Even if Bhutan were willing to let China take control of Doklam, India would likely have been unwilling (and, by treaty, unrequired) to stand aside.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-10-24): Bhutan and China started boundary talks in 1984 and have since focused on mainly three disputed areas — Jakarlung and Pasamlung areas in north Bhutan, and the Doklam area in west Bhutan. [...] India considers the Doklam plateau as an undisputed territory of Bhutan, whereas, Beijing regards it as an extension of its Chumbi Valley, which lies between Sikkim and Bhutan, noted ThePrint. [...] There are concerns in New Delhi that a deal between Thimphu and Beijing could include swapping Doklam – located close to the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China – for disputed territories in the north. This trijunction point is at a spot called Batang La. China wants to shift this point about 7 km south of Batang La to a peak called Mount Gipmochi – a move unacceptable to New Delhi as that would mean the entire Doklam plateau would be under Beijing’s control.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-07-04): Border Trijunction: Doklam (Doko La) Doko La (Doklam) is a strategical tri-junction of India, Bhutan and China. Doklam is recognised as a Bhutanese territory by India and Bhutan. But, China claims some parts of the Doklam Plateau as part of its "ancient" frontier. From 1984, Bhutan and China have conducted nearly 24 rounds of dialogue to delineate the border between them and the process is still going on. Doklam is in news due to the recent stand-off between Indian and Chinese Army. The reason behind the stand-off was the Chinese attempt to build a road in the strategically located Doklam. On June 16, China attempted to build a road construction by bringing in earthmovers and construction machines in the Doklam area of Bhutan. The Royal Bhutan Army objected to these construction activities in its territory but was outnumbered and pushed back to its post by the China’s PLA following which Bhutan called for the help of Indian Army. India and Bhutan have signed the 2007 Friendship Treaty according to which, India serves as a virtual security guarantor of Bhutan. Indian Army and Bhutan Army do joint patrolling at the tri-junction. The Indian Army had asked the PLA to stop the road construction activity that has resulted in a stand-off.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-04-03): The Doklam plateau, south of the trijunction, is where the Indian military, on behalf of Bhutan, engaged in a standoff with the Chinese forces in 2017 to prevent them from encroaching upon the disputed territory. The standoff ended after over two months when both New Delhi and Beijing announced the withdrawal of their forces. However, satellite imagery shows that China has since built military installations in the area. [...] The deal proposes that Thimphu cede disputed areas in its western region, which includes Doklam, to China in exchange for territorial concessions by Beijing along Bhutan’s disputed northern border. [...] Author and journalist Manoj Joshi has previously pointed out that while Doklam has no particular significance to Bhutan itself, handing it over to China would be unfavourable for New Delhi due to India’s security considerations.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-08): The 2017 China–India border standoff or Doklam standoff was a military border standoff between the Indian Armed Forces and the People's Liberation Army of China over Chinese construction of a road in Doklam, near a trijunction border area known in Chinese as Donglang, or Donglang Caochang (meaning Donglang pasture or grazing field). On 16 June 2017 Chinese troops with construction vehicles and road-building equipment began extending an existing road southward in Doklam, a territory that is claimed by both China and India's ally Bhutan.[2][3][4][5][6][7] [...] Doklam is an area disputed between China and Bhutan located near their tri-junction with India.[11][12] Unlike China and Bhutan, India does not claim Doklam but supports Bhutan's claim.[4][13][14] [...] - ^ Joseph, Anil K.; Varma, K.J.M (8 August 2017). "Bhutan Acknowledges Doklam is Under Chinese Territory, Claims Top Chinese Official". thewire.in. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-08-29): India said the two sides had reached a "disengagement understanding," which led to the "expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site" in Dolam, part of Doklam region that is disputed between Bhutan and China. (See part one of this series for a primer on the political geography of the region.) MEA released a follow-up statement noting that the "border personnel of India and China at the face-off site" were withdrawing. [...] Given the stakes at Doklam and the several unusual features of this standoff — it was the first instance of India facing down Chinese troops on territory claimed by a third country, Bhutan — the details of Monday’s resolution merit a closer look, both as a tactical and strategic matter. In the end, did India’s mid-June maneuver yield its desired end-state in Doklam or did China gain instead? [...] Reports during the standoff revealed a complex and difficult history of bilateral border negotiations between Bhutan and China with regard to the Doklam sector. Though definitive evidence in the public domain remains out of grasp, reports suggested that beginning in the mid-2000s — before its transition away from absolute monarchy and before the revision of its friendship treaty with India — Bhutan had considered territorial concessions to China in the Doklam sector that would have been unacceptable to India.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-03-30): On the matter of Doklam, Tshering said, "It is not up to Bhutan alone to solve the problem. "There are three of us. There is no big or small country, there are three equal countries, each counting for a third." [...] Lotay Tshering said that the Doklam plateau issue is one that needs to be resolved by three parties — India, Bhutan and China. [...] Experts now worry that the new stand on Doklam by Bhutan is in exchange for a settlement of the disputed Bhutanese territory to the north.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-07-30): The Doklam plateau in western Bhutan is claimed by both China and Bhutan. India backs Bhutan’s claim. China’s interest in this plateau stems from its strategic value. Control over Doklam will give Beijing a "major terrain advantage" over India. [...] Another worrying development, from India’s perspective, was a memorandum of understanding that Bhutan and China reached in July last year on a three-step roadmap to speed up talks on resolving their border dispute. This dispute involves two chunks of territory – China added a third chunk in eastern Bhutan recently – one of which is the Doklam plateau. China has been pressing Bhutan on a package proposal under which Thimphu should hand over Doklam to China in return for Beijing recognizing Bhutan’s control over disputed territory in north-central Bhutan. [...] India’s influence over Bhutan has been declining. There is growing support in Bhutan for the establishment of formal diplomatic and economic relations with China, and settling the border dispute. Ceding control over Doklam in return for a settled border with China and a generous flow of investment from Beijing is an option that will be hard for Thimphu to resist.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-09-20): This small strip of land separating the Indian state of Sikkim from its neighbour Bhutan is one of several areas disputed by China and Bhutan. After the Chinese started building a road on the controversial territory in June, India, with its own interests at stake and as Bhutan’s former representative on external relations, stepped up to engage with China. [...] As Bhutan approaches its 10th anniversary as a parliamentary democracy next year, the Doklam incident appears to suggest a new phase of political discussion and engagement emerging. Many of the views expressed throughout were deeply critical of the Indian media. More worrying for the Bhutanese government, which has close ties with prime minister Modi, is the widely expressed view that India continues to seek to control Bhutan. [...] Bhutan and its current government, led by the prime minister, Tshering Tobgay, have emerged from this recent border dispute enhanced by restraint and a display of political acumen. The Bhutanese may now wish finally to settle the ongoing border disputes with China. The rhetoric of the superpowers undoubtedly is seen for what it is – mere rhetoric. Yet the Doklam Pass incident ought to provide an incentive to Thimphu to reflect on its long-term relationships with its neighbours.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-09-07): On June 8, a platoon-sized unit of Chinese border guards moved into territory claimed by both China and Bhutan, a client-state of India. They destroyed stone bunkers used sporadically by the Royal Bhutan Army, and shortly afterward a Chinese road construction crew arrived with excavators, bulldozers, and a larger military escort. On June 16, Indian troops arrived and blocked the road-building effort. The next two months saw periodic scuffles at Doklam, as well as a mass rock-fight (captured on video and posted to YouTube) by the disputed banks of the Pangong Lake 800 miles away. On August 28, both nations agreed to what India termed an "expeditious disengagement" of forces, and both declared this non-resolution a victory. [...] Moreover, a Chinese military presence at Doklam—particularly one with transportation infrastructure capable of supporting deeper incursions—would threaten a 17-mile-wide strip of land known as the Siliguri Corridor linking seven Northeastern Indian states to the rest of the country. The corridor is often referred to as India’s "Chicken Neck"—and New Delhi had no intention of letting Beijing gain control of it. The 2007 treaty with Bhutan ominously notes that "neither Government shall allow the use of its territory for activities harmful to the national security and interest of the other." Even if Bhutan were willing to let China take control of Doklam, India would likely have been unwilling (and, by treaty, unrequired) to stand aside.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-09-06): By taking this first move with security forces in the Doklam dispute, India peacefully secured several important strategic objectives. First, the Chinese road building crew won’t finish its assigned task in 2017. India’s military detachment blocked China from improving this disputed road before arrival of the monsoon rains of September and the subsequent harsh winter in the Himalayas. Second, India exercised resolute and successful support for a longstanding regional ally, Bhutan. China’s road improvement gambit was seen in Bhutan and New Delhi as a grab of disputed land claimed by Bhutan, and a violation of the 2012 agreement that tri-junction boundary points are to be decided only through consultation between all three parties. Third, India displayed an ability to arrest a Chinese effort to unilaterally alter facts on disputed ground by "exercising" jurisdiction on the territory with unchallenged physical activity. In this sense, India thwarted China from achieving what it has been doing successfully in the South China Sea: unilaterally changing the physical facts in a disputed area to enhance its claims over that territory by land building.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-04-23): In 2017, Bhutan accused China of unilaterally attempting to alter the status quo after it was found that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had begun constructing a motorable road toward the Bhutan army camp at Zompelri. Chinese infrastructure in the region previously only consisted of rudimentary dirt track roads. Bhutan cited the 1988 and 1998 agreements and emphasizing their commitment to maintaining peace in border areas until boundary disputes were resolved. China insisted that the construction of the road in Doklam was an act of sovereignty on its territory as "Doklam has been a part of China since ancient times" and "is an indisputable fact supported by historical and jurisprudential evidence, and the ground situation." Despite Bhutan’s condemnation, China proceeded with its construction activities near the India-Bhutan-China trijunction in Doklam, sparking tensions between the countries. This escalation culminated in a seventy-three-day military standoff between the PLA and the Indian Army. It came to an end in August 2017 after both sides mutually agreed to disengage.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of Bhutan (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-04-26): Among all the contentious places, the key issue is a strategic plateau called Doklam - situated close to the tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China. Bhutan and China claim the region and India supports Thimphu's position. India has its own reasons to back Thimphu. Experts say the Doklam plateau is of great security importance to India as any dominance of the region by the Chinese could pose a threat to Siliguri Corridor, known as the Chicken's Neck, a 22km (14-mile) stretch that connects the Indian mainland with its north-eastern states. [...] Bhutanese commentators like Wangcha Sangey feel that Bhutan can achieve a border settlement with China, if it were not for Delhi's reported insistence that Bhutan retain Doklam.