Beijing, August 08: As India and China launched the latest round of their boundary talks in New Delhi, Beijing today said it favoured a “fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution” to the vexed issue based on the spirit of “mutual understanding and accommodation”.
“China is willing to make joint efforts with India in the spirit of mutual understanding and accommodation to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the issue,” Jiang Yu, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said.
Jiang’s comment came as India and China kicked off the 13th meeting between their Special Representatives to discuss the border issue in New Delhi.
The boundary talks launched in 2003 are being held on the basis of Political Parameters and Guiding Principles agreed between the two countries in 2005.
At the same time, the official Xinhua news agency noted that China and India have “disputed territory along the Himalayan region in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region as a result of the ‘McMahon Line’ drawn by the British colonial rulers in India in the early 20th century.”
“However, the Chinese government has never recognised the illegal ‘McMahon Line'”, it said.
Meanwhile, Jiang rejected a media report from Hong Kong about China-India border talks, describing it as “groundless.”
Hong Kong-based Ming Pao newspaper reported on Wednesday that China’s bottom line in its border talks with India is that Beijing would possess only 28 per cent of the disputed territory with India.
–Agencies