India, China to begin boundary talks today

NEW DELHI — China's influential state councillor Dai Bingguo yesterday touched down here for two-day talks on the festering boundary issue and is expected to seal a landmark border mechanism that seeks to prevent flare-ups arising from misperceptions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The visit of Dai, China's special representative on the boundary question with India who is known to be close to Chinese President Hu Jintao, comes amid the backdrop of a host of differences between the two Asian giants.

Dai will hold the 15th round of boundary talks with National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, also India's special representative, today and tomorrow with a view to firming up a framework that in turn will form the basis for delineating the border on the map.

The two special representatives are also expected to flesh out the details of a pact on the border mecha- nism that is expected to be signed tomorrow.

The border mechanism, an important confidence-building measure, will facilitate real-time contact in case of violations of the LAC. It is expected to be headed by the joint secretary (east Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs and the Chinese director-general of the department of boundary and ocean affairs.

Last week, Menon admitted that the boundary question is a difficult issue. “The boundary question remains unresolved, and there is no denying that it is a difficult issue… On the settlement itself, we are in the second stage of the three-stage process of agreeing principles, a framework and finally a boundary line,” he had said.

The boundary talks were postponed in November last year after India refused to relent on Chinese objections to Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama's participation in a global Buddhist conclave in New Delhi.

Besides the boundary issue, the two sides will also hold discussions on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues that will include the global financial crisis, climate change and the BRICS summit of India, Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa New Delhi will host in March.

However, the focus will be on confidence-building amid some contentious issues that have shadowed bilateral ties in the past few months.

China recently denied visa to an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer who was to go as a member of the Indian military delegation to China, on grounds that he was from Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian northeastern state which is claimed by China. This led to India scaling down its delegation from the original 30 members to 15. — IANS