Beijing: Ahead of Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao`s visit, India and China today concluded their 14th
round of Special Representatives border talks, with both sides
agreeing to seek a "fair deal" as they made "steady progress"
on a framework to resolve the long-running boundary dispute.
National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, who held
three rounds of talks with his Chinese counterpart Dai
Bingguo, said a steady progress was being made with
discussions focused on working out a framework to resolve the
border dispute.
Menon and Dai discussed the whole gamut of issues
bedeviling the two countries, including the resumption of
defence exchanges put on hold by India following denial of
visa to a top Indian General B S Jaswal.
Menon declined to go into details of the progress
made during the border talks, citing sensitivities involved.
He said details can not be revealed as the talks are
an ongoing progress but it is suffice to say that a steady
progress was being made with discussions focused on working
out a framework to resolve the dispute.
During an interaction with the Indian media here,
Menon said he was "satisfied with the quality of interaction"
on all issues to make Wen`s visit a "landmark" one in a bid to
take the bilateral ties forward.
However, he declined to discuss the Chinese response
to India’s demand to roll back stapled visas for residents of
Jammu and Kashmir as well as resumption of defence exchanges
by India, saying all issues were discussed.
The NSA also had a fruitful meeting with Chinese Vice
President Xi Jinping.
A statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry
said the border talks ended with a "joint pledge to seek a
fair and reasonable solution acceptable to both sides".
Summing up the two days talks, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei told a media briefing that "China
is committed to settling the border dispute through friendly
consultations and is ready to work with the Indian side to
safeguard peace and stability in border areas."
Menon said Wen`s visit to India would take place in
the middle of next month and the Chinese Premier would proceed
to Pakistan after the tour.
On the border dispute, Menon endorsed the Chinese
statement, saying both sides agreed that a fair and a
reasonable solution should be found which should be
politically acceptable to both the countries.
He could discuss all issues with Dai since the last
round of the Special Representatives talks have been expanded
to include all bilateral matters.
India and China share 4,000-km of border. The focus of
the dispute is mainly confined to Aaksai Chin in Ladakh region
and Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as southern Tibet.
Menon said peace prevailed across the Sino-Indian
borders.
-PTI
