Contrary to the Chinese Government’s assertion that Jawaharlal Nehru had accepted the 1890 Sino-British treaty over Sikkim to buttress Beijing’s claim over the Dokalam area, the former PM had pointed out to China that it is claiming sizeable part of Bhutan’s territory. “It is not clear to us what exactly is the implication of your statement that the boundaries of Sikkim and Bhutan do not fall within the scope of the present discussion,” Nehru wrote in a letter to his then Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai on September 26, 1959.
“In fact, Chinese maps show sizable areas of Bhutan as part of Tibet,” Nehru said in the letter accessed by PTI here.