New Delhi
8 August 2009
Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo, who was hosted by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi towards the end of his two-day
talks with National Security Adviser MK Narayanan, gave no indication of change in
China's position on the Sino-Indian border issue. He told Prime Minister Singh that both
sides should continue to make common efforts for finding a just, fair and mutually
acceptable solution.
Dai's remarks, taken together with Beijing's stout denial of a Hong Kong-based
newspaper report which said China could agree to swap eastern sector of the border for
the western sector, suggested that no immediate breakthrough was likely. In fact, the
border issue was rendered a footnote in a statement released by the Ministry of External
Affairs. It read: "On the boundary Question, both sides expressed satisfaction at the
progress being made through the special representatives mechanism and reiterated that
pending the settlement of the boundary issue, peace and tranquility should be
maintained in our border areas."
A press release issued separately by the Chinese side said Dai and Narayanan had an
in-depth exchange of views on resolving the boundary question. "For the questions left
over from history the two countries should work to seek for a fair and reasonable
mutually acceptable solution through peaceful and friendly negotiations," it read. The
release also said China and India had "no other option than living in peace and
developing side by side" and that China stood firmly committed to working with India to
press ahead with the bilateral ties. "China and India should endeavour to build the
strategic mutual trust," it added.
Apart from the boundary issue, the discussions between Dai and Narayanan covered a
broad agenda which included the entire gamut of bilateral relations and regional and
international issues of mutual interest. Both sides agreed to set up a hotline between
Prime Minister Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The Chinese mooted the
proposal of a hotline when Prime Minister Singh met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in
Yekaterinburg, Russia, in June.
India and China will celebrate the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic
relations in 2010 by holding the Year of Friendship in their respective countries. Both
sides will continue high-level regular contacts, which was described as a hallmark of the
bilateral relationship. President Pratibha Devisingh Patil is expected to visit China this
year. Minister of External Affairs SM Krishna has been invited to visit Beijing this year,
too. From the Chinese side, a top-level visit is planned later this year. Also, Chinese
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will visit here for the fourth RIC (Russia-India-China)
meeting of foreign ministers.
Dai, who conveyed the greetings of President Hu and also handed over a written
message of greetings from Premier Wen to Prime Minister Singh, said China took a
positive view of India's development and progress, and also supported a bigger role for
India in international affairs. He iterated China's commitment to consolidate the Strategic
and Cooperative Partnership, established in 2005, in all fields in a comprehensive way.
A Xinhua report cited Dai as also saying that in the next several years, China and India
would have "a rare time period of opportunity" to solve their boundary issue.
China experts such as Mohan Guruswamy from the Centre for Policy Alternatives,
Srikanth Kondapalli of Jawaharlal Nehru University and Phunchok Stobdan from the
Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses did not anticipate anything different emerging
from the 13th round of the border talks, but so did a section of the Chinese media. A
China Daily report said the latest round of talks was hardly expected to make
substantive progress. It quoted Fu Xiaoqiang, a scholar on South Asia at the China
Institute of Contemporary International Relations, as saying that the border issue was
complicated and the talks would at best serve to improve understanding between people
of the two countries.
No comments:
Post a Comment