Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the ‘Startup Mahakumbh’ event at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on March 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

A day ahead of his planned departure, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put off his visit to Bhutan due to “inclement weather”, an announcement made simultaneously by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and the Bhutanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday evening. The visit is being rescheduled, although no dates were given. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was due to land in Paro, Bhutan’s only international airport at present, and travel to the capital Thimphu on Thursday morning, and return by the same route on Friday morning. However, with heavy rain and possible snowfall in Paro predicted to continue on Thursday, officials said the visit had to be postponed.

“Due to ongoing inclement weather conditions over Paro airport, it has been mutually decided to postpone the State visit of Prime Minister to Bhutan on 21-22 March 2024. New dates are being worked out by the two sides through diplomatic channels,” the statements said. Reports on the uncertainty over the visit grew a few hours prior to the announcement, when a press conference to be held by Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra on Wednesday afternoon was suddenly cancelled.

Officials said the final decision was taken given Paro airport’s particularly tricky “visual landing” requirements in the mountainous region, and impaired line of sight due to incessant rain, making the PM’s flight risky. 

During his 24-hour State visit to Bhutan, Mr. Modi was due to receive Bhutan’s highest civilian award, the Order of the Druk Gyalpo, that was conferred on him in 2021. This would have been the PM’s first visit since the award was announced, and was due to be presented the award by Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in appreciation for his efforts towards strengthening India-Bhutan ties, and in particular India’s provision of the first round of 500,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in 2021. The Prime Minister’s visit, that would have followed just a week after Bhutan PM Tshering Tobgay’s visit to Delhi, was seen as unusual, as by convention Prime Ministers forego bilateral visits after election dates have been scheduled. However, sources said, the gesture was meant to denote India’s commitment to Bhutan in particular, and to the government’s “neighbourhood first” policy. 

Also read | PM holds talks with Bhutanese counterpart

Officials involved in the planning of the visit said all preparations had been completed for Mr. Modi’s visit before the unforeseen weather conditions. The itinerary had included a ceremonial welcome for Mr. Modi at the Tashichhodzong complex, an audience and a royal banquet hosted by the Bhutanese King on Thursday, followed by the inauguration of a ‘Mother and Child Hospital’ supported by Indian development funding on Friday. Sources said they hoped the new dates for Mr. Modi’s visit would be intimated soon, but much would depend on clearing his already busy schedule during the election campaign, once the weather in Paro cleared up. 

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets his Bhutanese counterpart Tandi Dorji in Beijing on October 23, 2023. Photo: fmprc.gov.cn/

Bhutan and China held their 25th round of boundary talks, that have been held up since the last round in 2016, even as Bhutan’s Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing, with both sides saying they want a deal on demarcating the boundaries “soon”. Significantly, this was the first official visit to China by the Bhutanese Foreign Minister, and holding the long pending 25th round of talks indicated substantive progress had been made by the expert groups of officials from both countries. 

The boundary talks were led by Dr. Dorji, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade of Bhutan, and Sun Weidong, Vice Foreign Minister of China, who signed a “Cooperation Agreement” between both countries outlining the functioning of a Joint Technical Team (JTT) on the “Delimitation and Demarcation of the Bhutan-China Boundary”, that had been agreed to in August this year, a joint press release issued in Beijing and Thimphu said. Dr. Dorji was accompanied by Bhutanese Ambassador to India Maj. Gen. (Retd.) V. Namgyel and Bhutanese Foreign Secretary Pema Choden.

According to a statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry after Dr. Dorji’s meeting with the Chinese Foreign Minister on Tuesday, Mr. Wang also expressed the hope that the two countries would establish diplomatic relations, something Bhutan has held out on thus far,  as it does not have ties with any UN Security Council Permanent Member (P-5) country. 

“The conclusion of boundary negotiations and the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Bhutan fully serve the long-term and fundamental interests of the country and nation of Bhutan,” Foreign Minister Wang,  who is also a Politburo member and Director of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission, said, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) statement.

While India has said in the past it “very closely follows” the talks as it pertains to its security, especially near the trijunction point near Doklam, the Ministry of External Affairs did not comment on the Bhutan Foreign Minister’s visit to China. The Bhutanese MFA has not issued any separate statement on the meetings but according to the Chinese MFA statement Dr. Dorji concurred with Mr. Wang on the boundary issue.

In an interview to The Hindu earlier this month, Bhutanese Prime Minister Dr. Lotay Tshering had disclosed that the two countries were “inching towards the completion” of a three-step road map on boundary delineation, that includes agreeing to the demarcation of the border in talks on the table, visiting the sites along the demarcated line on the ground, before finally and formally demarcating the boundary between them. “We hope to see a line being drawn — this side Bhutan and that side China. We don’t have that right now,” Dr. Tshering told The Hindu. 

When asked about Bhutan’s position on opening diplomatic ties with China, Dr. Tshering had been non-committal, saying, “Theoretically, how can Bhutan not have any bilateral relations with China? The question is when, and in what manner.” 

‘Firm determination’

On Tuesday, Dr. Dorji met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng as well, and official media accounts quoted Mr. Han saying China was “willing to strengthen exchanges at all levels and in all fields viz. economy, trade, culture and tourism,” adding that both sides share “firm determination and a sincere desire to demarcate their boundaries and establish diplomatic relations at an early date”. 

 Bhutan and China held 24 rounds of boundary talks between 1984 and 2016, a dozen rounds of expert group meetings that yielded the three-step road map , and earlier this year held their first boundary delimitation talks by a joint technical team, indicating they are serious about an early conclusion of the process. 

Experts in India have said any deal between Beijing and Thimphu that accedes to a “swap arrangement” between areas to the north (Jamparlung and Pasamlung valleys) with Doklam to the west would be of concern to India, given the proximity to India’s narrow “Siliguri corridor” that connects the north-eastern States with the rest of India. India and China were involved in a stand-off in Doklam near the India-China-Bhutan trijunction in 2017, and border tensions have remained high since 2020 after the Chinese troops transgressed along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). However, Bhutan’s Prime Minister Dr. Tshering and Foreign Minister Dr. Dorji have said in interviews that no agreement would be made “against India’s interests”, and clarified that any talks about the “trijunction” at Doklam would only be held trilaterally between India, Bhutan and China.