NEW DELHI, 27 July 2004 — India and China opened a third round of talks yesterday on a border dispute dating back to their 1962 Himalayan war.
India’s National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit and China’s Executive Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo are representing their countries in the talks, which began in January.
Chinese and Indian forces fought a brief but bloody border war along their frontier in the Himalayas in 1962. The frosty relations between the massive countries began to warm in the 1980s, and weathered another downturn over India’s 1998 nuclear tests.
New Delhi also views with suspicion Beijing’s close military ties with India’s rival, Pakistan.
However, India and China are conducting a series of high-level visits and exchanges to resolve their border dispute.
In July 2000, the two agreed to expedite the border demarcation. Both want to reduce the hundreds of thousands of troops they’ve posted on their frontier, but a clear territory delineation must come first.
India’s new Congress party-led government has also indicated that it’s eager to have better relations with China.
Last month, India’s External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh met his Chinese counterpart, Li Zhaoxing, on the sidelines of an Asian foreign ministers’ conference in China’s northeastern port city of Qingdao, pledging to settle remaining issues in a “fair and mutually acceptable manner.”
The border dispute centers on India’s Arunachal Pradesh state and several other Indian border areas claimed by China.
Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,030-kilometer border with China’s Tibet region. India and China signed agreements in the 1990s to respect the current boundary pending a final agreement.
India claimed last July that some Chinese troops had crossed into Indian territory. Beijing denied that, and accused India of violating the Chinese border.
Discussions on the border issue have been held since 1988, but it wasn’t until last year that the special negotiators were appointed to speed up talks.
Former National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra had led the Indian side at the two previous round of talks, held in New Delhi and Beijing.
