While upbeat on his upcoming official goodwill visit to India, senior Chinese leader Li Peng has emphasised the need for patience and right conditions to settle the vexed India-China boundary issue.
“I hope, in the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, this issue can be resolved. Of course, given its complexity, it requires patience and right conditions for its settlement,” Li Peng told PTI in Beijing in an interview, ahead of his visit from January 9 to 17.
Commenting on the unresolved boundary question that has affected the smooth development of bilateral ties, Li, China's former premier and current chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), said that the issue ill be resolved so long as the people and the leadership of our two countries all sincerely hope for solution.
“I will be very much satisfied if my visit will contribute in some way to its settlement,” Li, who is ranked number two in China's ruling Communist Party's hierarchy after state president and general secretary of the Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, said.
“I recall several years ago, when former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited china, the two countries reached an understanding on border,” Li said referring to his talks with Gandhi in December, 1988, during which the two leaders agreed to settle the boundary dispute through Peaceful and friendly consultations and established the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the boundary question.
Bureau Report