By By Matthew F. Ferraro

December 22, 2014

"The November APEC summit in China concluded with "historic" news-on agreements about climate change, trade, visas, and other issues. But the triumphal headlines do not mask the cold reality: Beijing is moving steadily to supplant U.S. power in the region, and replace the American-led international system with one of its own. Nowhere is this effort more obvious than in the largely underappreciated geopolitical contest in South Asia, where China has aggressively extended its sphere of influence. Washington should not accept China’s challenge as a fait accompli but should rather seek to buttress the prevailing international order by strengthening U.S. ties with states large and small, protecting their sovereign rights from Chinese hegemony and, essentially, giving the nations of South Asia something to choose over a "Chinese order."

This effort should begin-perhaps counterintuitively-with Bhutan, the small Himalayan kingdom nestled between China and India. About the size of Switzerland and with a population of around 730,000, Bhutan-known as Druk Yul, or Land of the Thunder Dragon-has a long-standing border dispute with China rooted in China's claims to what it considers greater Tibet. China claims about 4,500 square kilometers of northern Bhutan, a staggering ten percent of the land-locked country's total area."

Read more:

http://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-case-for-a-stronger-bhutanese-american-relationship/ 

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