Contributed to development of Sino-Indian ties, recalls China

BEIJING: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has sent a condolence message to Indian leaders on the death of former prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who passed away in New Delhi on Thursday.

In an emailed statement to HT, the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs said Vajpayee was an “outstanding Indian statesman and had made outstanding contributions to the development of Sino-Indian relations”.

“China expresses its deep condolences on his death and sincere condolences to the Indian government and people and the relatives of Mr Vajpayee. Premier Li Keqiang has sent a condolence message to the leaders of India,” the statement said.

“The death of Vajpayee is a great loss to China-India relaconveyed

VAJPAYEE HAD FIRST PROPOSED SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVES MECHANISM AS A WAY TO DICUSS BOUNDARY ISSUE IN 1979

tions. Vajpayee played an important role in the normalization of Sino-Indian ties, and his visit to China in 1979 was a landmark event in this regard,” Lin Minwang, a professor of international relations at Shanghaibased Fudan University, told CGTN Digital.

“Similarly, his visit in 2003 after he became prime minister injected new impetus to Sino-Indian relations after the Cold War,” Lin said.

Vajpayee was keen to resolve the Sino-India boundary problem during his lifetime and had to China the need to hasten the negotiating process he initiated in 2003.

Vajpayee had first proposed the Special Representatives (SR) mechanism — which is the current mechanism for the talks — as a way to discuss the boundary question during his visit to China as foreign minister in the Janata Party government in 1979. It was finally set up when he visited China in 2003.

“When he went to visit China in 1979 as the Foreign Minister, he proposed that the two countries establish special representatives on boundary question which reflects that he has been thinking about this question for a long time,” the then Chinese SR, Dai Bingguo, wrote in his memoir, Strategic Dialogues.

More than 15 years later, the SR talks between India and China continue; the 21st round is expected to be held this year.