New Delhi

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China has built at least 22 villages and settlements over the last eight years within the territory that has been traditionally part of Bhutan, according to reports in the Indian media. 

Citing satellite imagery, a report by the Hindustan Times on Wednesday (Dec 18) said that eight such villages are coming up in areas in proximity to the strategic Doklam plateau. These eight villages are located in Bhutan's western sector, close to Doklam.

The Hindustan Times report said that these eight villages are all strategically located in a valley or a ridge overlooking a valley that China claims.

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An alarming situation

The report pointed out that the location of 22 villages alarmed China watchers in New Delhi. Doklam was the site of an India-China border standoff in 2017 over the Chinese construction of a road. 

Also read | 'China ready to work with India,' says Chinese envoy as NSA Doval meets Wang Yi in Beijing

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The report also said that though the front-line forces of both India and China pulled back from the region, satellite images from recent years have shown stepped-up Chinese construction activity around Doklam.

Citing a recent report by research associate Robert Barnett, the Indian newspaper said that since 2016, when China first built a village in territory understood to be part of Bhutan, Beijing has completed 22 villages and settlements consisting of an estimated 2,284 residential units and relocated almost 7,000 people to previously unpopulated areas of Bhutan.

Indian NSA Ajit Doval to meet China FM Wang Yi

The above report has been published as Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing.

Also watch | WION Dispatch: India, China vow LAC peace in diplomatic talks

Doval and Wong are expected to discuss a range of issues, including the management of peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and the restoration of bilateral ties, which have been frozen for more than four years due to the border skirmishes that began in 2020. 

(With inputs from agencies)