Bhutan Royal couple gets special welcome

India on Tuesday accorded a special welcome to Bhutanese King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, as he arrived in New Delhi with his wife and child for a four-day visit.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made a special gesture and personaly received the royal couple and their one-and-a-half-year old child at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. This is the Bhutanese King's first visit to New Delhi after the Indian Army and the Chinese People's Liberation Army had a 72-day-long face-off at Doklam Plateau in the western region of the Himalayan Kingdom.

"Special gesture for a valued friend. EAM @SushmaSwaraj receives Their Majesties, The King, The Queen and The Gyalsey (Prince) of Bhutan," Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of Extrnal Affairs, tweeted.

Swaraj will again call on the King on Wednesday, shortly before he would have a meeting with President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The King will also have a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will host a dinner in honour of the royal couple at his official residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg on Wednesday itslef.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will call on him on Thursday.

Modi will host a dinner in honour of the royal couple.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army personnel had come to Doklam Plateau a disputed territory on Bhutan-China border on June 16 and started building a road, brushing off protests by Royal Bhutan Army soldiers camping nearby. Indian Army personnel from nearby Doka La post in Sikkim intervened two days later, leading to the face-off, which ended on August 28.

Bhutan publicly stood by India all through the face-off in Doklam Plateau, risking the wrath of China.

Beijing and New Delhi withdrew troops from Doklam Plateau on August 28. But New Delhi and Thimphu are worried over the Chinese PLA's move to deploy more troops in its forward posts close to the India-China-Bhutan tri-juinction boundary point. The PLA also purportedly intruded into the territory claimed by Thimphu along the disputed China-Bhutan boundary at least thrice in the recent weeks.

The issue is likely to be discussed when the King of Bhutan will have a meeting with Modi.