China and India end border talks

BEIJING: Asian giants China and India wrapped up two days of talks about their disputed border on Tuesday with an agreement only to meet again to resolve the decades-old row.

The two sides appointed envoys in 2003 to negotiate a solution to the dispute as relations between the former foes improve, but no breakthrough was expected at the ministerial-level talks in Beijing. “These are very technical talks, most incremental. It’s such a complex and old situation. They have been mandated to come up with a framework (to lead to a settlement),” said an official at the Indian embassy in Beijing.

During a visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to India earlier this year, the two countries agreed on an 11-point roadmap to settle the row politically, rather than technically, an agreement some analysts say is an attempt towards accepting the status quo.

New Delhi disputes Beijing’s rule over 38,000 sq km of barren, uninhabited land on the Tibetan plateau, which China seized during the border war.

China claims 90,000 square km of territory ruled by India mostly in the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said its representative, Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, and Indian National Security Adviser M K Narayanan had agreed to meet again in New Delhi at a date to be determined.

“The meeting was held in a friendly, constructive and cooperative atmosphere,” Qin told a news conference. “Through friendly consultations and mutual respect we can steadily promote new progress on border talks between us.” China’s fourth ranking leader Jia Qinglin also met Narayanan and said both sides should expand cooperation. reuters

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