Colleagues,
Peace and tranquility are grand and noble things but the verbiage of the
1998 Agreement does not define the boundary and the document should not
be construed as a true boundary agreement, per se. Nary a mention is
made therein describing an allocation, delimitation, or demarcation.
Instead, it only permits the Parties to agree to disagree and seek
amicable ways to resolve issues that come up with the contested border
area.
Thus, my original locution of an uncontested dispute.
Ray Milefsky, Specialist
International Boundaries and Sovereignty Issues
Office of the Geographer and Global Issues
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC 20520-6510
Phone: 202 647 1205
Fax: 202 647 0504
-----Original Message-----
From: International boundaries discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Kwiatkowska, Barbara
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 2:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [INT-BOUNDARIES] Bhutan-China
Please see China/Bhutan websites listed under Mr Ray Milefsky's e-mail
(Martin Pratt's & Victor's e-mails are re-enclosed afterwards). All IBRU
e-mails are at: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/int-boundaries.html
-----Original Message-----
From: International boundaries discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Milefsky, Ray J
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 14:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [INT-BOUNDARIES] Bhutan-China
We are pleased you have addressed this fuzzy border, Victor.
Like Lebanon and Syria, there is no known written boundary agreement
delimiting or describing the boundary. Nineteenth and early Twentieth
Century British Survey of India maps show the line following largely the
watershed based on the topography as interpreted by the colonial
cartographers, whose understanding of the hypsography on the Chinese
side
was, shall we say, quite sketchy. Before then, local peoples apparently
recognized the traditional separation along certain high elevation peaks
in
this remote, sparsely inhabited region. The
configuration of the boundary as drawn by the British, however, has
remained fixed on current Bhutanese maps, even though the true watershed
lies somewhat further south -- which is where the Chinese presently show
the
boundary on their maps. This discrepancy amounts to some 1400 square
kilometers.
Several mapping entities show two lines as the boundary. Some simply
label one line or the other as indefinite.
China and Bhutan have been in boundary discussions but to our knowledge
no
resolution has materialized. One might say this boundary constitutes an
uncontested dispute, as neither side asserts more than cartographic
claims.
However, the true alignment remains clearly in question.
Kindest regards,
Ray
Ray Milefsky, Specialist
International Boundaries and Sovereignty Issues
Office of the Geographer and Global Issues
U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC 20520-6510
Phone: 202 647 1205
Fax: 202 647 0504
mailto:[log in to unmask]
INDIA/BHUTAN BOUNDARY DEMARCATION COMPLETED:
India/Bhutan Boundary Demarcation Completed of 13 December 2006
at:
www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=66023 &
http://in.news.yahoo.com/061213/43/6a9ef.html &
http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7833
(via: http://www.phayul.com/ &
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?p=Demarcation &
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?p=Bhutan)
Bhutan/India Demarcation Almost Completed of 5 July 2006 - don't
know how to get rid of adverts - at:
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/10656.asp
Bhutan/India Boundary Demarcation of 24 June 2006 at:
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=Bhutan-China+boundary+mu
st+b
e+finalised&id=13002 - these Bhutan/India news were written by Tashi
Dorji
mailto:[log in to unmask] and were circulated by Dr Brendan
Whyte of
Geography Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt Scopus,
Jerusalem
91905, mailto:[log in to unmask] via IBRU on 27 June 2006, lower at:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/int-boundaries.html
1998 Agreement to Maintain Peace and Tranquillity on the
Bhutan-China Border can be found at
http://www.bhutannewsonline.com/bhutan_china.html. A news report posted
by
Brendan Whyte to this forum last July (http://tinyurl.com/2mo6py) - see
Martin Pratt's email infra
-----Original Message-----
From: International boundaries discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Martin Pratt
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Sent: Monday, January 22, 2007 13:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [INT-BOUNDARIES] Bhutan-China
Dear Victor,
As far as I am aware, Bhutan and China are still negotiating the precise
alignment of their boundary. A fairly detailed account of their
discussions up to 2002 and the text of the 1998 Agreement to Maintain
Peace and Tranquillity on the Bhutan-China Border can be found at
http://www.bhutannewsonline.com/bhutan_china.html. A news report posted
by
Brendan Whyte to this forum last July (http://tinyurl.com/2mo6py)
indicated
that a final delimitation has yet to be agreed.
It was reported last month that with the exception of the two tripoints
with China, the Bhutan-India border has now been fully demarcated (see
http://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/news).
Regards,
m a r t i n
==================================
Martin Pratt
Director of Research
International Boundaries Research Unit
Department of Geography
University of Durham
South Road
Durham DH1 3LE
United Kingdom
+44 (0)191 334 1964 (direct line)
+44 (0)191 334 1962 (fax)
mailto:[log in to unmask] (email)
http://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru (World Wide Web)
==================================
-----Original Message-----
From: International boundaries discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Professor Victor
Prescott mailto:[log in to unmask]
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 10:54 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [INT-BOUNDARIES] Bhutan-China
Dear Colleagues,
I notice the latest Times Atlas shows a definite international
boundary between Bhutan and China. I must have been asleep!
Could anyone tell me the date the boundary was agreed?
Sincerely, Victor
Prof. Dr. Barbara Kwiatkowska
Professor of International Law of the Sea
Deputy Director NILOS
Faculty of Law - Utrecht University
Achter Sint Pieter 200
3512 HT Utrecht - The Netherlands
Phone: 31 30 253 7037/7038
Fax: 31 30 253 7073
http://www.law.uu.nl/nilos
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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