By IANS
Beijing : Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing later this year, India and China Wednesday hinted at progress on the boundary issue as they wrapped up “useful and positive discussions” on a framework for the settlement of the decades-old dispute.
“The Special Representatives of the two countries, M.K. Narayanan, national security adviser (of India), and Dai Bingguo, vice foreign minister (of China), held useful and positive discussions on the framework for the settlement of the India-China boundary question,” the Indian embassy said in a brief statement at the end of the two-day talks.
“The two sides agreed that the next round of talks would be held in Beijing. The specific dates would be decided through diplomatic channels,” the statement said at the end of the 11th round of talks between special representatives of the two countries.
Narayanan Tuesday called on Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and discussed an entire range of bilateral issues, including the boundary dispute, ahead of Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s forthcoming visit to China next month. The dates of her visit have not been finalised.
Sonia Gandhi’s trip to China will set the stage for Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing later this year.
The Chinese leadership Tuesday congratulated Rahul Gandhi, son of Sonia Gandhi and a Congress MP, on his appointment as general secretary of the All Indian Congress Committee.
The 11th round of talks began on a positive note, Wen noting “progress” in the boundary negotiations as both sides adhered to the guiding principles and political principles for resolving the vexed issue.
India hosted the last round of talks in the hill station of Coonoor early this year, but the talks ended without any significant progress.
India claims China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq km of Jammu and Kashmir, including the 5,180 sq km Islamabad illegally ceded to Beijing under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. China also claims 90,000 sq km of India’s territory. Most of it is in the northeastern state Arunachal Pradesh.