copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (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] [...] On the same day, China Foreign Ministry released a map depicting Doklam as part of China. Using the map as illustration, China's Spokesperson Lu Kang read Article I of the 1890 Convention of Calcutta and asserted that it proved that the Donglang (Doklam) area, a territory North East of Gipmochi as shown on the map, belongs to China.[26] [...] - ^ 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 People's Republic of China (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 People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-08-09): For over a month, Indian and Chinese troops have been facing off on the Doklam Plateau, a disputed patch of land in the Himalayas near the junction of Bhutan, Tibet, and the Indian state of Sikkim. The impasse began with China’s decision to build a road on territory also claimed by Bhutan. The Chinese construction project, which was discovered in June, led to Bhutanese protests. These drew in India, which decided to increase the number of its troops in the area. New Delhi backs Bhutan’s claim and is called on to help address the country’s security concerns by the terms of a bilateral treaty renewed in 2007. [...] For the past few decades, Chinese officials have looked askance at India’s growing economic and military power. Although they are often dismissive of the prospects of India’s rise in Asia, China’s leadership recognizes that India is the only country on the continent with the material potential to stand up to Beijing’s quest for regional dominance. As India has sought to step out of the confines of its immediate neighborhood—by, for example, expanding its naval presence in the Indian Ocean, providing humanitarian assistance to afflicted states in the region, and carrying out counterpiracy operations around the Horn of Africa—China has worked to contain India within South Asia and to reduce its influence even there. The road-building project in Doklam is just the latest part of this plan.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-07-18): Beijing takes this to mean that the convention remained in force under India as the successor state to British India and denoted the triboundary point, even if Bhutan was not a party to the convention. Beijing also justifies its claim to the Doklam region more broadly by evoking the "indisputable fact" that "Doklam has always been part of China’s territory and under its effective jurisdiction" — language that may sound familiar to readers who track Chinese claims in the South China Sea, for instance. To explain its claim, the Chinese Foreign Ministry released its own map of the area, shown below. The blue arrow shows the location of the Indian Army crossing and the mountain shown at the trijunction point is Mount Gipmochi. (Neither the Indian nor Bhutanese governments have released authoritative maps highlighting their interpretation of the triboundary point.)
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (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 People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-07-16): China’s most recent territorial claims in Sakteng are of immense strategic value. The area adjoins the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which contains disputed territory between China and India. Tawang, a key bone of contention between India and China in the eastern sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), lies to Sakteng’s northeast and is vital to Indian border defense. Control over Doklam and Sakteng together will give China significant military advantages in dealing with India in the eastern sector of the LAC. India plans to build a road from Guwahati to Tawang via the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, which will reduce travel distance and strengthen its ability to speed up the overland mobilization of troops to the disputed Sino-Indian border. China may have added Sakteng to its claimed territories in an effort to pre-empt India’s plans for the Guwahati-Sakteng-Tawang road (Asian Affairs, August 1, 2020). [...] [6] While the Bhutanese government maintained that the road [lay] inside Bhutanese territory and "is a direct violation of the [1988 and 1998] agreements and affects the process of demarcating the boundary" between the two countries (Bhutan MFA, August 6, 2017), the PRC insisted that "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." China’s construction of [a] road in Doklam is an act of sovereignty on its own territory, it said (PRC MFA, June 28, 2016).
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-11-18): Earlier negotiations had dealt with territories in Bhutan’s north and west, including Pasamlung and Jakarlung valleys in the north and Doklam to the west. China may offer a package solution that would see Beijing controlling Doklam and ceding the northern valleys. The inclusion of Sakteng into the dispute was seen by some observers as a negotiating tactic to bring Bhutan back to the table. Since the 2017 stand-off with India, Beijing has already strengthened its de facto control over much of the Doklam plateau, located strategically along the Bhutan-China-India tri-junction. Aside from the face-off site – where India had objected to a road being built that would push the tri-junction point further south – China has deepened its presence elsewhere on much of the plateau and faced little opposition from Bhutan in doing so. Chinese media even showed images of a newly built village in Doklam, in the disputed territory between Bhutan and China, the part of a broader effort in building "front line" border villages and moving in residents to secure territorial claims.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-09-02): The Philippines’ moves gravely infringe upon China’s sovereignty and violate international law and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). China asks the Philippines to immediately withdraw the vessel illegally anchored in the lagoon, and stop infringement activities and provocations at once. China will continue to take resolute measures in accordance with law to safeguard our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and uphold the sanctity and effectiveness of the DOC. Meanwhile, we are ready to maintain dialogue and communication with the Philippines through diplomatic channels to properly address relevant issues and put the maritime situation under control.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-07-08): Chumbi Valley has been in the news for a couple of weeks owing to reports about the Chinese intrusion into the Doklam (Donglang according to China) Plateau. There has been some confusion created about the place of intrusion with names like "trijunction", "Doka La", "Sikkim Border", "Donglang", "Mount Gipmochi (Gyemo Chen)" and "Doklam" used by the angry People’s Republic of China (PRC) and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) spokespersons, and our media. [...] China decided to embarrass India in the Doklam area by trying to alter the status quo. It aimed at driving a wedge between India and Bhutan and thus chose to show its presence in Bhutanese territory, to which India also is very sensitive. China’s strategy is to make India lose face by forcing it to withdraw and thus wean Bhutan to its own sphere of influence. Anything short of mutual withdrawal will leave China in de facto control of the Doklam Plateau outflanking and compromising the Indian defences in Sikkim. [...] This is a critical moment in Sino-Indian relationship. Any sign of weakness will have repercussions on the entire boundary question. Today, it is Doklam and tomorrow, it will be somewhere else. Acceptance of Chinese position in Doklam will lead to unacceptable ‘loss of face’ domestically and internationally.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-03-30): Tshering also touched upon the dispute over the Dong Lang area (Doklam), where Chinese and Indian troops faced off in 2017. He said of Doklam that "It is not up to Bhutan alone to solve the problem. [...] In response, Zhang pointed out that Doklam is totally located within China's territory and has nothing to do with India. This fact has been clearly stipulated by the Convention between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet signed by China and the UK in the late Qing dynasty (1644-1911) that has been legally enforced. India has no right to speak a word or claim sovereignty of the area, Zhang noted.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-07-24): China’s armed forces maintain a rigorous guard against encroachment, infiltration, sabotage or harassment so as to safeguard border security and stability. China has signed border cooperation agreements with 9 neighboring countries and set up border meeting mechanisms with 12 countries. China’s armed forces have established mechanisms for exchanges with neighboring countries at three levels: national defense ministry, Theater Commands (TCs), and border troops. They conduct regular friendly mutual visits, working meetings, joint patrols and joint exercises targeting transnational crime with their foreign counterparts. They work together with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan to implement the border disarmament treaty. They strive to promote stability and security along the border with India, and take effective measures to create favorable conditions for the peaceful resolution of the Donglang (Doklam) standoff. They enhance control along the border with Afghanistan to guard against the infiltration of terrorists. They strengthen security management along the border with Myanmar, so as to secure stability and public safety in the border areas. Since 2012, China’s border troops have completed over 3,300 joint patrols and conducted over 8,100 border meetings with their foreign counterparts.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-24): In recent years, the PRC has been acting more aggressively in the Indo-Pacific, particularly with regard to its territorial disputes in the South China Sea, in the East China Sea, along the China–India border, and in the Taiwan Strait. [...] In 2017, Chinese military engineers were building a road to the Doklam plateau, an area claimed by both Bhutan and China, and this led to a confrontation between Chinese and Indian forces, the latter requested by Bhutanese authorities to provide assistance. The crisis lasted 73 days. Both sides pledged to pull back, but Chinese construction efforts in the area have continued.106 Improved Chinese infrastructure not only would give Beijing the diplomatic advantage over Bhutan, but also could make the Siliguri corridor that links the eastern Indian states with the rest of the country more vulnerable. [...] [106] Joel Wuthnow, Satu Limaye, and Nilanthi Samaranayake, "Doklam, One Year Later: China’s Long Game in the Himalayas," War on the Rocks, June 7, 2018, https://warontherocks.com/2018/06/doklam-one-year-later-chinas-long-game-in-the-himalayas/ (accessed July 21, 2023).
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-11-01): A Bhutanese delegation led by Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji held the 25th round of boundary talks with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sun Weidong on October 23-24. [...] China's construction activity has essentially changed the reality of the ground, allowing it to hold talks with Bhutan from a position of strength. In 2017, the Chinese and Indian army were locked in a face-off in the Doklam region, traditionally a Bhutanese territory. China has established permanent military structures in Doklam and has called the region its territory while demanding that Bhutan include it in talks to swap other territory. [...] "The Bhutan Prime Minister's statement on the border issue in July indicated that Bhutan will give China some or most of the western border areas that China is demanding—and in several cases has already occupied. But the PM said it will not give up Doklam unless India agrees," Robert Barnett, a professorial research associate at SOAS, University of London, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-06-17): Deadly conflict broke out on June 15 on the China-India border following weeks of minor military confrontations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that separates the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China) and the Indian regions of Ladakh and Sikkim. The lethal conflict occurred in the Galwan [...] Springs and the Galwan Valley (also in Ladakh), and clashes between Chinese and Indian soldiers on the border near India’s Sikkim state. Authoritative information is limited, but vario us accounts claim PRC troops made territorial gains of 40-60 square kilometers. On May 27, President Trum p tweeted that "the [...] Prior to the events of June 15, PRC statements on recent developments had been restrained and offered few clues as to the intentions behind Chinese troops’ recent movements. Some observers view PRC activities along the LAC in May as part of a broader pattern of PRC territorial assertiveness, while others suggest that at least some of the flare-ups wer e spontaneous, as the vast majority of border skirmishes typically have been. Others posit that China’s latest moves may have been part of a response to previous perceived Indian transgressions, namely, India’s 2019 decision to alter Ladakh’s administrative status. (In
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-03-09): When it comes to military aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific, Beijing has presented a very low belligerency since 1989. Apart from multilateral operations, China has deployed its People's Liberation Army very few times against other States. In 1995–1996, the PRC fired missiles towards Taiwan and triggered a severe US military response (which compelled it to de-escalate and return to normalcy). In 2017, China confronted India in a military standoff in Doklam, a disputed territory within Himalaya. Notwithstanding the dangerous stalemate, ‘no shots were fired’ (Mendes, Reference Mendes2018: 161) and the crisis was resolved a few weeks later. Therefore, no wars have been fought by China since 1989 (Sarkees and Wayman, Reference Sarkees and Wayman2010). However, in the post-Cold War era, Beijing has embarked on an effort of coercive diplomacy to gain full control of the South China Sea (SCS) without triggering wars. As a result, it ‘is now capable of controlling the SCS in all scenarios short of war with the United States’ (Beech, Reference Beech2018). However, it is important to note that China began its maritime expansion in the SCS way before the end of the Cold War.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-06): China and India have been working together to produce films together, such as Kung Fu Yoga starring Jackie Chan.[130] However, disruptions have risen again due to China building trade routes, the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, with Pakistan on disputed Kashmir territory.[131] On 16 June 2017, Chinese troops with construction vehicles and road-building equipment began extending an existing road southward in Doklam, a territory which is claimed by both China as well as India's ally Bhutan.[132][133][134][135][136][137][138] On 18 June 2017, around 270 Indian troops, with weapons and two bulldozers, entered Doklam to stop the Chinese troops from constructing the road.[134][135][139][140] Among other charges, China accused India of illegal intrusion into its territory—what it called the mutually agreed China-India boundary, and violation of its territorial sovereignty and UN Charter.[141] 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 its concerns with the strategic Siliguri Corridor.[142][143] India media reported that on June 28, Bhutan issued a demarche, demanding that China cease road-building in Doklam and leave the area as is.[144] The Minister of External Affairs of India at the time, Sushma
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-08-09): On June 16, China started building a road in the Doklam area in the Himalayas in territory claimed by China and Bhutan, near the border with India. Two days later, on Bhutan’s behalf, Indian troops crossed a settled boundary to stop China’s construction. Around 300 troops from India and China have been facing off since, in one of the most serious border standoffs between the two Asian powers in decades. China has demanded that Indian troops withdraw first, while India has called for simultaneous withdrawal. With their armies facing off, each country has unleashed diverging narratives about what is going on in Doklam. [...] The first question is why China decided to extend a longstanding road through the Doklam plateau in mid-June, towards the important Jampheri ridge. This is both a legal and political question. China claims the area under an 1890 Anglo-Chinese treaty that defines the tri-junction point of India, China, and Bhutan. India accepts the treaty, but interprets it differently. Both sides have a reasonable case, but India also points out that China agreed in 2012 to finalize the tri-junction through consultation—rather than unilateral action.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2017-08-03): I 1. The Dong Lang area (Doklam) is located in Yadong county of the Tibet autonomous region of China. It borders India’s Sikkim state on the west and the Kingdom of Bhutan on the south. In 1890, China and the UK signed the Convention Between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet which delimited the boundary between the Tibet region of China and Sikkim. According to the Convention, the Dong Lang area, which is located on the Chinese side of the boundary, is indisputably Chinese territory. For long, China’s border troops have been patrolling the area and Chinese herdsmen grazing livestock there. At present, the boundary between the Dong Lang area and Sikkim is a part of the China-India boundary in the Sikkim Sector. [...] 8. The China-India boundary in the Sikkim Sector has already been delimited, and the Dong Lang area is Chinese territory. China’s road building on its own territory is aimed at improving local transportation, which is completely lawful and legitimate. China did not cross the boundary in its road building, and it notified India in advance in full reflection of China’ s goodwill. The Indian border troops have flagrantly crossed the mutually-recognized boundary to intrude into the Chinese territory and violated China’ s territorial sovereignty. This is indeed a real attempt to change the status quo of the boundary, and it has gravely undermined peace and tranquility of the China-India border area.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-07-18): Beijing disputes most demarcations with India, despite three border agreements in 1993, 1996 and 2013. In 2017, the PRC had a 73-day standoff with India at Doklam that was the most critical in decades until the PLA incursion and occupation in May 2020 of swaths of land in the eastern part of India’s Union Territory of Ladakh at the northwestern LAC. Also, the only full-fledged war between the two countries lasted a month in 1962, in which the PLA seized the 37,244-square-kilometer, high-altitude desert called Aksai Chin, which India claims as part of Ladakh. Following the 2017 skirmish in Doklam, the PLA constructed military infrastructure and permanently deployed troops there. [...] In November 2020, the PRC built a village 2 kilometers inside Bhutan and just 9 kilometers from the site of the India-China standoff in Doklam. The confrontation was triggered by the PRC’s attempt to extend a road in an area claimed by Bhutan, which has had a Treaty of Perpetual Peace and Friendship with India since 1949, a pact renewed in 2007. About 60,000 Indian nationals live in Bhutan, with an additional 8,000 to 10,000 visiting the country of about 780,000 daily from border towns to work.
Claim: Doklam is a territory of People's Republic of China (Doklam, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-07-18): Since 1996, China has offered an exchange of territory with Bhutan, seeking to relinquish its claim to disputed regions in the north in exchange for Bhutan ceding more strategically important territory in the west. For Beijing, Doklam remains the goal: It sits at a junction that connects Tibet, Bhutan, and India, and it would provide the Chinese People’s Liberation Army with a tactical advantage. To make this a more attractive proposition, China noted that the territory in the north was far larger than the territory it sought. Although the initial offer nearly worked, the 1996 talks ultimately broke down. [...] Similarly, the Chumbi Valley to the north of Doklam—often described as a Chinese dagger into Indian territory—represents a weakness for China, which sees the ancient gateway to Tibet as vulnerable to a pincer movement, in which Indian troops could strike from both sides of the valley at once—from Bhutan and India. By extending its claim by 89 square kilometers south of the intersection with Bhutan and India, China hopes to gain a vantage point that could serve both offensive and defensive purposes in a potential conflict with India.