As part of the new urgency to restructure the relationship with Bhutan, India last month completed the demarcation of the boundary between the two countries. Bhutan’s boundary with China remains in dispute.

As China stepped up its diplomatic outreach to Bhutan in recent years, New Delhi has become increasingly aware of the dangers of persisting with the old framework of bilateral relations defined by the 1949 treaty.

Although Thimpu and Beijing do not have diplomatic relations, the two sides have regular exchanges.

The Chinese emphasis on “equality” with Bhutan, in the 1998 bilateral agreement on border tranquility, stood in contrast to the absence of a reference to Bhutanese sovereignty in the 1949 treaty with India.