The Doklam plateau has become the unlikely scene of the latest India-China imbroglio. _________________. The Chumbi valley is vital for India, and any change is fraught with dangerous possibilities. The incident stems from differences between Bhutan and India on the one hand and China on the other as to the exact location of the tri-junction between the three countries. In 2007, India and Bhutan had negotiated a Friendship Treaty to replace an earlier one. China’s current claims over the Doklam plateau should be seen as yet another instance of cartographic aggression, which China often engages in. It is, however, China’s action of building an all-weather road on Bhutan’s territory, one capable of sustaining heavy vehicles, that has prompted Bhutan and India to coordinate their actions in their joint national interests. _________________.

• A. The Doklam plateau has indirectly figured in the several rounds of border talks that have been held between China and Bhutan./ Reliable reports suggest that China is not unwilling to make generous concessions to Bhutan in return for a mutually acceptable border settlement.
• B. China has long eyed this area and it has been keen to establish its physical presence in a region that it claims belongs to China according to the 1890 Convention. / With China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) gaining momentum, and completion of infrastructure programmes such as the Lhasa-Shigatse Railway, China appears to have turned its attention to the Doklam plateau.
• C. The region falls within Bhutanese territory, but this is now questioned by China./ Many of the points involved in the current stand-off are disputed or disputable and the Sikkim (India)-China border was the only settled segment of the nearly 4,000-km-long India-China border.
• D. Both A and C
• E. None of the above