How old are you ?
How was construction of road taking place without Chinese presence ?
What's the whole dispute about ?
I am 35 this year if you are interested. There were no permanent presence at all, just construction crew building roads, and then once finished, it's the usual patrol. The whole dispute was about India about entering Chinese soil illegally stopping Chinese road construction. Which made no strategic sense, since Doka La to Gyomochi is not really strategic, the strategic part was on the plateau itself.
Doklam and Doklam plateau are two different things, China wanted to own Doklam not just the plateau, the road till Doka La essentially already covers the whole Doklam plateau. When we station troops there, we have de-facto control of Doklam plateau. Strategically, it was the plateau that mattered, the last big piece of flat land there facing Siliguri. Use google 3D, the plateau area is only at the top left quarter of Doklam, the rest are essentially river valleys with no strategic use.
So when Indians entered the Doklam plateau area, their main aim was not road obstruction, it was road destruction of the completed roads in Doklam Plateau. Why else do you need to bring in 2 excavsatros, you could have used only kumbaya troops instead.
Map from Indian analyst. Doklam plateau is from Batang La, Merug La, Senche La to Doka La, looks like a diamond, essentially the whitish area crisscrossed by the roads there. We completed roads from Merug La/Senche La to Doka La, essentially grade 40 roads, then interference from Doka La happened when we tried to extend to Gyomochen. Gyomochen is not a plateau but it was the original trijunction as per 1890 agreement.
Map from Chinese MOFA
To me this is a win win situation because the definition of victory differs between China and India. India wanted media victory for Modi's reelection and also to cover up the fck ups by BJP. China wanted strategic victory. Why did I say India got a media victory? Because we shouldn't have even given a road postponement concession since it was 'rightfully' ours. However, in reality, China did not exercise de facto control of Doklam prior to this, India on the other hand had soldiers in Doka La. Due to it's disputed nature, China could only patrol. The status quo is now changed forever whether India admits it, there is now a grade 40 road covering the whole Doklam plateau (not Doklam area) and permanent Chinese troops stationed there. De facto control is now in Chinese hands which is exactly what we wanted.
The original Indian objective was to ensure Doklam plateau (not the whole Doklam area) does not fall into Chinese hands, not by obstructing road construction, they were aiming to destroy the completed roads in the plateau. Strategically speaking, extending the road to Gyomochi is only for de jure control not de facto control. By controlling the whole Doklam plateau (not Doklam area), we already have de facto control over the whole Doklam
