New
Delhi, Jan 18
India and China Thursday concluded their ninth round of talks on
resolving the boundary dispute in a "open, friendly and constructive
atmosphere" and agreed to continue discussions in Beijing later this
year.
"The talks were held in an open, friendly, cooperative and
constructive atmosphere," a statement by the external affairs
ministry said here late Thursday after the two-day talks between the
special representatives, Indian National Security Adviser M.K.
Narayanan and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.
The statement was silent on whether any progress was made on pushing
the resolution of the boundary question that has shadowed ties
between the two Asian powers over more than four decades.
The talks, however, did not make much headway over China's claim to
the monastery town of Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, a reliable source
told IANS.
Beijing, in fact, claims the entire Arunachal Pradesh as its
territory - a claim reiterated by Chinese ambassador to India Sun
Yuxi ahead of President Hu Jintao's visit to India in November last
year. This assertion didn't go down well with New Delhi that quickly
repudiated the Chinese claim and reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh
was an integral part of India.
"Both sides agreed to hold the next round of talks between the
Special Representatives in China at a mutually convenient time,
which will be decided through the diplomatic channel," the statement
added.
Narayanan and Dai held talks on a framework for the boundary
settlement on the basis of an agreement on political parameters and
guiding principles, that includes not disturbed settled populations
as part of package settlement of the boundary dispute, during the
visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to India in 2005.
Dai also called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External
Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday and held talks with them
on a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including boosting
trade and investment and greater cooperation in strategic issues.
Ahead of the talks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese
counterpart Wen Jiabao, who met on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit
in the Philippines early this week, had instructed their special
representatives to act with greater "vigour and innovation" in
resolving the decades-old dispute.
The two countries declared a resolution of the boundary question as
the strategic objective of their growing relationship during the
visit of Hu to India.
India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq km of Jammu and
Kashmir, including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded by Islamabad to
Beijing under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. Beijing
accuses New Delhi of possessing some 90,000 sq km of what it claims
to be Chinese territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.
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