Bhutan: China has equal say in resolving Doklam issue

NEW DELHI: China has a say, like India and Bhutan, in resolving the Doklam dispute, Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering has said in an interview.

There was, however, no response from India to the remark which came six years after the military standoff at the India-China-Bhutan tri-junction in Bhutan.

"Doklam is a junction point between India, China and Bhutan. It is not up to Bhutan alone to solve the problem," Tshering was quoted as saying by a Belgian daily. "We are three. There is no big or small country, there are three equal countries, each counting for a third," he added.

Tshering further said that Bhutan is ready and that as soon as the other two parties are ready too, discussions can take place. He also denied that there was any intrusion by the Chinese into Bhutan in the form of villages or settlements as reported by the media earlier.

Indian authorities saw China's activities in Doklam as not just intended to take a maximalist position in the dispute, but also to obfuscate the main issue of PLA's violation of the status quo in the region.