China has accelerated settlement-building along its disputed border with Bhutan, with more than 200 structures, including two-storey buildings, under construction in six locations, according to satellite image analysis conducted for Reuters .
The images and analysis supplied to Reuters by U.S. data analytics firm HawkEye 360, which uses satellites to gather intelligence on ground-level activities, and vetted by two other experts, provide a detailed look into China's recent construction along its frontier with Bhutan.
Construction-related activity in some of the locations along Bhutan's western border has been under way since early 2020,with China initially building tracks and clearing out areas, based on material provided by satellite imagery firms Capella Space and Planet Labs, said Chris Biggers, the mission applications director at HawkEye 360.
Images show the work speeded up in 2021. Smaller structures were erected — possibly to house equipment and supplies — followed by the laying of foundations and then the constructionof buildings, Mr. Biggers said.
"To me, 2021 was the period for acceleration," Mr. Biggers said.
Two other experts who studied the locations of the new construction and recent satellite images taken by Capella Space said all six settlements appear to be in territory disputed by China and Bhutan — including a contested tract of roughly 110square kilometres — with little in the way of resources ornative population.
"It is Bhutan's policy not to talk about boundary issues in the public," Bhutan's foreign ministry said in response to questions from Reuters . The ministry declined to comment further.
The construction suggests that China is bent on resolving its border claims by giving its ambitions concrete form, said the experts and one Indian defence source.
China's foreign ministry said the construction is "entirely for the improvement of the working and living conditions of thelocal people."
"It is within China's sovereignty to carry out normal construction activities on its own territory," the ministry said. The ministry declined to comment further.
The villages also offer Beijing some strategic value, two of the experts say. The new construction is 9 to 27 km from the Doklam area at the junction of the borders of India, Bhutan andChina, where Indian and Chinese troops were locked in standoff for more than two months in 2017.
The settlements would allow China to better control and monitor far-flung areas, and potentially use them to establish security-focused installations, according to one expert and the Indian defence source.
India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
Bhutan, a country of less than 800,000 people, has been negotiating with Beijing for almost four decades to settle their 477-km border. At issue for Bhutan is not just territorial integrity, but also concerns over the potential security implications for India.
The Bhutanese foreign ministry said Bhutan and China had agreed during the latest round of boundary negotiations in April 2021 to speed up the process of resolving their differences. It declined to discuss the details of the plan to do so.
"All issues are discussed between Bhutan and China within the framework of the Boundary Talks," the ministry said.
"China's village building across the claimed Bhutan borderappears to be designed to force Bhutan to yield to Chinese demands in their border negotiations, now in their 24th round after 37 years," said Robert Barnett, a professorial research associate at SOAS University of London, who is an expert on Tibet and has studied the China-Bhutan border closely.
