The
nature of Bhutan's foreign relations, most notably with the
more modern world, was to have an immense influence on the nation's
historical evolution. By the end of the eighteenth century the
East India Company's control of India was near complete, a situation
that was to have a major effect on regional politics. Traditional
ongoing political, cultural and commercial contacts with the
neighboring territories of Tibet, Ladakh, Cooch Bihar, Sikkim
and Nepal were sometimes problematic, with regular disagreements
and sporadic skirmishes. However, the balance of power remained
relatively stable, and conflict was for the most part limited
to muscle flexing and border incursions. The presence of a powerful
organized southern neighbor, possessing an overwhelming expansion
oriented trading agenda, was certain to introduce an important
new factor to external affairs and could be interpreted as Bhutan's
initial acquaintance with modernity. Relations commenced in
1772, when Cooch Bihar became a British protectorate, and were
followed in 1774 with a first mission to Bhutan.
Initial exchanges were good-natured and conciliatory, however
the Bhutanese proved far from accommodating, submissive or
malleable. Follow-up missions consolidated associations without
ever fully achieving the desired objectives of the British.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century relations had begun
to deteriorate over territorial disputes in the southern border
areas of Cooch Bihar, Bengal and Assam. Ongoing tensions began
to escalate on the matter of the Bengal and Assam Duars (southern
approaches), leading to the Ashley Eden mission in 1864 and
on the 12th November 1864 a British declaration of war annexing
the Duars. During the one year Duar War the Bhutanese proved
worthy opponents, gaining a reputation for their military
skills, personified in a successful counteroffensive led by
Jigme Namgyal. Although the British achieved final victory,
the nature of resistance certainly influenced the decision
that an invasion of the inhospitable mountainous terrain of
Bhutan itself was untenable. The Treaty of Sinchula, signed
on 11th November 1865, was to prove a defining moment in Indo-Bhutan
relations. The Bhutanese surrendered all the Bengal and Assam
Duars, imports from either country were to be recognized as
duty-free and the British consulted concerning Bhutan's external
relations. However, Bhutan's territory was roughly defined
and internal affairs were to be independently determined.
Moreover, the British agreed to pay an annual compensation
for the lost territory.
1865 marks the Bhutanese retreat to the hills and focus on
domestic preoccupations. Under the leadership of Ugyen Wangchuck
the country was to achieve internal unity and external recognition.
Relations between Bhutan and the British improved, as traditional
territorial matters gave way to the more subtle issues of
regional diplomacy. Ugyen Wangchuck recognized that Bhutanese
interests would be better served through a policy of alliance
and limited appeasement, reflected in the neutral stand taken
in the 1888 dispute between India and Tibet and assistance
provided to the 1904 Younghusband expedition to Lhasa, for
which he was conferred with the insignia of Knight Commander
of the Indian Empire. Continued good relations were reflected
in the strong friendship between Ugyen Wangchuck and John
Claude White, the then political officer in Sikkim, a meeting
in India with the Prince of Wales, the future George V, a
high level British presence at the coronation of Ugyen Wangchuck
and the 1910 Treaty of Punakha. This treaty clarified the
position whereby the British would guide foreign policy but
exercise no influence in internal administration. Thus a relationship
was established that was both affable yet reserved.
The product of Bhutan's initial encounters with modernity
both demarcated the country's territorial boundaries and maintained
a clear division between internal and external realms. The
Bhutanese, conscious that an intimate relationship at this
time with the more profound aspects of modernity might compromise
the country's independence, chose to remain a stable and secluded
ally. Ugyen Wangchuck had however been exposed to the more
modern world and the notion of development. Particularly appreciating
the importance of modern education, he decided to start schools
to prepare the country for an inevitable modern epoch. Upon
his death in 1926 Ugyen Wangchuck was succeeded by his son
the second King Jigme Wangchuck (1905-1952), who was to further
his father's initiatives. Consolidating internal stability
and the position of the monarchy, he reformed and centralized
the administrative system. Furthermore, conscious of the inherent
threats to the sovereignty of the nation, which remained somewhat
ambiguous under the British, he entered into relations with
the newly independent India. On the 8th August 1949 a treaty
of friendship was signed, which recognized Bhutan's independence
and ushered in the continuing close and mutually beneficial
relationship between the small Kingdom and its powerful neighbor.
By the middle of the Twentieth Century Bhutan stood as a
remote, inward-looking and to a large extent isolated land
on the threshold of modernity. The situation was however soon
to change, a reorientation of perspective influenced by an
inevitable modernizing momentum, alterations in the regional
political scenario and the progressive outlook of the third
King Jigme Dorje Wangchuck (1928-1972). Generally regarded
as the father of modern Bhutan, Jigme Dorje Wangchuck acceded
the throne upon the death of his father in 1952. The country
he inherited was now from a traditional standpoint fairly
matured, recognized both internally and externally as an independent,
stable and relatively unified nation under the strong and
legitimate leadership of a hereditary monarchy. It however
remained almost completely untouched by modernizing processes.
Keenly aware of both the inevitability of eventual integration
with and the potential benefits to be derived from the modern
world, Jigme Dorje Wangchuck personally undertook preemptory
initiatives aimed at preparing the country for a more intimate
relationship with the outside world. In 1953 he established
a National Assembly as the first fully representative national
forum, in 1956 serfdom was abolished, soon followed by an
extensive series of land reforms, bringing to an end traditional
feudal relations. The King further understood that the future
sovereignty and independence of his tiny Kingdom would be
dependent on its ability to successfully adapt to modern realities.
By the late 1950s the third King's vision of a modernizing
Bhutan was to strongly correspond with the Indian priority
of promoting closer connections. China's invasion of Tibet
had highlighted new issues in Sino-Indian border security,
with India anxious to establish a direct counterbalancing
presence on the southern side of the Himalayas. When Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, accompanied by his daughter Indira
Gandhi, visited Bhutan in 1958, the terms of such integration
would have dominated the agenda. India was to provide assistance
in the establishment a basic communications network, linking
the Kingdom both internally and externally, and to help Bhutan
undertake associated modernizations. In 1961, closely preceded
by the construction of the first motor road linking the two
countries, Bhutan's first five-year development plan was put
into operation, ushering in a new era in the country's historical
evolution. Significantly, the integration process was coordinated
at the centralized level, which allowed a degree of order
to be maintained in transition. Bhutan joined the Colombo
Plan in 1962, the International Postal Union in 1969 and finally,
in 1971, became a member of the United Nations. Successive
development plans were implemented, supported by evolutions
in government and civil administration. Upon his death in
1972 Jigme Dorje Wangchuck was to bequeath the present King
Jigme Singye Wangchuck a nation that had in a few years undergone
a transformation in orientation, and was now negotiating the
tricky path towards modernization.
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