VIENTIANE, Nov 30 ? China and India have moved closer to finalisation of the guidelines for resolving the contentious boundary dispute which has a direct bearing on Arunachal Pradesh. When Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao this morning ? their first meeting ? he gave enough hints to his counterpart that India would like any solution to the boundary dispute to be on the basis of the ground realities. ?Any accommodation reached should take into account ground reality,? Dr Singh was quoted as having said, even as the Chinese Premier confirmed his visit to Delhi in March next.
The obvious reference was to Arunachal Pradesh, which China still claims to be part of its territory. The Chinese Premier also had encouraging news for India as he disclosed that that a decision has been taken to recognise Sikkim as part of India and the remaining process is being implemented.
The 40-minute meeting was said to be very cordial and Indian officials looked more than satisfied with the outcome. The two Prime Ministers also agreed that there were too little people-to-people contacts and the two sides should do more to increase them. ?The handshake between you and me will catch the attention of the whole world,? Wen Jiabao was quoted as having remarked.
Recalling age-old ties between India and China and his forthcoming visit, he said it was the most important item on his agenda. ?My visit to India will send positive signal to the whole world,? he told Dr Singh in presence of Ministers and top officials. External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh was present on the occasion, as were three senior Chinese Ministers.
Later briefing newsmen, National Security Adviser, JN Dixit, who is India?s pointsman on the boundary dispute, said that they were closer to finalisation of the draft guidelines for resolving the dispute. ?There are differences but we shall work on resolving them soon,? he said, declining to specify a timeframe. Dixit was in China last month for talks with China?s pointsman, senior Vice Minister Dai Bingguo, for the fourth rounds of talk. The boundary talks, under a new political framework were approved by the Atal Behari Vajpayee Government in June 2003.
India and China have held over 30 rounds of bilateral negotiations on the boundary since the early 1980s, trying to work out the principles of settlement. The guidelines being prepared would partly define the kind of territorial adjustments that will come about.
Though the two sides have so far remained tight-lipped, there were media reports of ?mutual adjustment? on territory and that the two sides have agreed to negotiate on the idea of an East-West swap. China claims the entire Arunachal Pradesh in the East and India demands the Aksai Chin in the West.
India has nearly 2,000-kilometer-long border with China in eastern, central, and western sectors. In the western section, the border regions of Jammu and Kashmir have been the scene of conflicting claims since the nineteenth century. China has not accepted India?s definitions of the boundary.
China still claims practically the whole area covered by the districts of East and West Kameng, Lower and Upper Subansiri, East and West Siang, and Lohit in Arunachal Pradesh, arguing that the McMahon Line had never been accepted by China and was the result of British aggression.