New Delhi, July 10: Declaring that the Sikkim issue has been "largely resolved" with China, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha has said preparations were afoot for the first meeting of the special representatives of the two countries to find a solution to the vexed border issue from a political perspective. "If you look at the memorandum of understanding on border trade (signed during the Prime Minister's recent visit to China), there are expressions in it which clearly show that the issue of Sikkim has been largely resolved," he said.
On how soon the special representatives – national security adviser Brajesh Mishra and Chinese senior-most vice minister in the foreign ministry Dai Bingguo-- would meet, Sinha said, "Preparations are afoot.” "Because it will not be a social meeting. In order to be meaningful and purposeful, it will have to be a meeting with a great deal of preparations from both sides. I have reasons to believe that that kind of preparation is in hand,” Sinha stated.
On the issue of recognition of Sikkim as an Indian state by China, Sinha said "formalities" may take their own time but felt that "this is not an issue on which we should continue to remain concerned or worried about".
Observing that the language of the MoU needed "no further definition", he said, "When we are saying Sikkim state, as a sovereign country, we obviously can't be talking about a state in some other country. We can talk about a state only in our country." The minister was responding to queries on reports that while India has recognised Tibet Autonomous Region as a part of China, it has not been able to secure much gain on the issue of Sikkim, which Beijing has refused to recognise as Indian territory for the last 28 years.
Dismissing criticism that India has conceded on the Tibet issue, Sinha said, "I don't know what we have conceded. I am still waiting for somebody to come and explain it to me where we have made a departure on Tibet." Bureau Report