He suggested the "blending of five colours" representing China, Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan as part of his program to assert the Chinese claim in the face of British opposition.
Japan appropriated Korea, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands, the Pescadores, and Port Arthur; England took Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, and Hongkong; France seized Annam; even a miserable little country like Portugal took Macao from us.
[4] This construct considered Tibet to be the palm of China's right hand, with Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and North-East Frontier Agency (now known as Arunachal Pradesh) being its five fingers.
[10]: 96 [b] During a mass meeting in Lhasa in July 1959, Chinese lieutenant general Zhang Guohua said: "Bhutanese, Sikkimese and Ladakhis form a united family in Tibet.
[16][17] After the 2017 China–India border standoff at Doklam, an article in Qunzhong (a magazine run by the CCP's Jiangsu provincial party standing committee) quoted Mao Zedong's "five fingers" construct.
[18] It adds that as China's investments, trade, and economic relations with these regions increase, Chinese influence will overtake that of India and neutralize Indian control to a greater extent.
[21][22][23] According to commentator Saurav Jha, the "five fingers" policy arises from the historical geography of the Himalayas which allows bi-directional territorial claims between Tibet and the southern regions.