evidence: The 25th and latest round of talks between Thimphu and Beijing were held in October, four decades after negotiations to resolve the border dispute started. China claims 495 square kilometers (191 square miles) of territory in north-central Bhutan in the Jakarlung and Pasumlung valleys (Jakarlung is part of the Beyul) and 269 square kilometers (104 square miles) in the Doklam plateau in the west on Bhutan’s border with India. In 2020, China added Sakteng in the east to its list reportedly to seek advantage in negotiations. [...] The Chinese expanded in the Beyul to coerce Bhutan into ceding control of a more strategic area near India, the Doklam plateau, but it has since expanded in both regions and upped the ante without any repercussions or costs. [...] Nobody feels more pressure than Bhutan, but a denial in 2020 by the Bhutanese ambassador to India, Vetsop Namgyel, that "there is no Chinese village inside Bhutan" rang alarm bells in New Delhi and caused suspicion that Bhutan, India’s closest ally in South Asia, may have decided to hand over Doklam, or at least parts of it, to China.