Bhoutan, tightrope walker between India and China<

Tenzin has become, as he says himself, "geographer garage owner", a little by chance.This son of a breeder of Yacks learned the mechanics seven years ago, when the vehicles began to multiply in Haa, a small town surrounded by the mountains, in the far west of the kingdom of Bhutan.The mechanic, wearing the portrait of the king, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, printed on his T-shirt, then got a passion for geography, and particularly for the delivery route for car spare parts that he has thehabit of ordering in China.

"China does not exist"

He extracts from a stack of shock absorbers a few cards and points to large routes traced in pencil: "The border with Tibet is right on the other side of the mountains, just twenty kilometers from here as the crowdbird.However, my spare parts must borrow an immense detour, by Southeast Asia and India.Tenzin lives and works as if neighboring China was thousands of kilometers away.The two countries have no diplomatic relationships.

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When Beijing organized in May the Ombor summit ("One Belt, One Road") devoted to "new silk roads", Bhutan is the only country in South Asia, with India, in N 'Having sent any representatives to it. The billions of Chinese yuan irrigate development and infrastructure projects in Asia-and beyond-without going through the small kingdom of 700,000 inhabitants, stuck between India and China, in the foothills of the Himalayas. How can one of the least developed countries on the planet ignore the second world economy, with which it incidentally shares a 240-kilometer border? Tenzin eludes the question by an embarrassed smile: "In Bhutan, China does not exist. It's as simple as that. Bhutan, the size of a confetti, resists the Chinese Empire like the village of Asterix in the face of the Roman legions. Unlike the irreducible Gauls, however, the Bhoutanais may not be the only ones to decide their destiny.

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Today, Tenzin is very busy. The Haa town is preparing the Vishwakarma party, God of craftsmen, engineers and architects, which has become, over the years and technological advances, that of engines and computers. It’s a very popular party in India as in Bhutan. For the occasion, the twelve tenzin employees wear meticulously ironed oil combinations. Residents bring their vehicles to the garage as if they were going to the temple, to bless them. Balloons are hung on the wipers, the bumpers are shared with ribbons, some prayers are recited, then the drivers go back cheerfully, in their habitacles invaded by a cloud of incense smoke. How to find the statue of this Hindu divinity, essential for ceremonies, in a Buddhist country? Tenzin had to go to India, five hours of cars from here to buy one. An Indian garage employee volunteered to take on the role of Hindu priest. He swapped his combination of mechanic for a white creamy loincloth and laying tilak - vermilion red powder - on the forehead of each driver.

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