Modi secures Bhutan support

Offers help in power, space and satellite tech; Bhutan vows to not allow its territory to be used against India

Bhutan promised on Monday it would not allow its territory to be used against India, an early success for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's region-wide drive to shore up diplomatic relations with neighbours in return for stronger economic ties.

In a joint statement issued during Modi's first foreign visit since he took office in May, Bhutan and India agreed to not allow each other's territory to be used "for interests inimical to the other", without giving further details.

India believes armed insurgent groups from its northeastern states use the isolated Himalayan kingdom as a hideout and, in recent years, has grown anxious about China seeking a toehold in the one South Asian nation seen as completely loyal to New Delhi.
 

Neighbours Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have increasingly locked in financial and infrastructure assistance from China, leaving India feeling isolated and encircled in its own neighbourhood.

Wedged between Asia's rising giants but traditionally friendly only with India, Bhutan is emerging from centuries of self-imposed seclusion and is debating whether to open formal diplomatic ties with Beijing. Moving quickly to re-assert Indian influence in the region, Modi offered to turn Bhutan into a powerhouse of hydro-electricity three-quarters, of which India would buy to feed its energy-starved economy. "If you walk a few steps, we too will walk with you," Modi told a joint session of Bhutan's parliament.

He laid the foundation stone of the 600-Mw Kholongchu Hydroelectric Project, to be built jointly. He said the exploitation of the rich resource of hydropower that Bhutan possesses would help in sustainable development and fight global warming.

"A strong, prosperous India is good for the neighbourhood. The stronger India is, the stronger Bhutan will be," he said, choosing to speak in Hindi. He also offered Bhutan the use of India's space and satellite technology and suggested the two governments could work together to promote Bhutan and India's northeast as tourism circuit.

"With Prime Minister Modi, you can be sure there will be faster implementation of projects. He believes in speed," Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters.

In the past, insurgents fighting Indian rule in the northeast region have sought sanctuary in the jungles of southern Bhutan. They were later flushed out in joint military operations. Modi's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, has in the past said that China assisted such rebels.

Bhutan, which relied on India for guidance on its foreign and defence policy until a friendship treaty was revised in 2007, maintains diplomatic relations with about 50 countries, but not China.

In 2012, then Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met his Bhutanese counterpart on the sidelines of a U.N. meeting and called for the establishment of diplomatic relations.

The meeting caught New Delhi by surprise and since then it has closely watched Chinese moves in Bhutan, parts of which straddle a narrow corridor linking India with its northeast corner.