New Delhi, August 08: China and India, which went to war in 1962 over their boundaries, begin two days of intensive talks in New Delhi on their unresolved border issues.
Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, before the beginning of the talks with the Indian National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan, expressed optimism on Friday over the outcome of their talks. This is while it was not certain the discussions would achieve any major breakthroughs.
Since the 1962 war, although cooperation between the two nuclear powers has steadily improved in the trade and economic fields and defense, New Delhi is concerned over the new Chinese claims on India’s northeastern Arunachal Pradesh.
“Despite the twists and turns in China-India ties and border disputes, the two countries share the same historical responsibilities of developing economies,” Zhang Yan, the Chinese Ambassador to India told the Xinhua news agency in an interview.
Meanwhile, The Press Trust of India claimed the talks would, for the first time, go beyond the boundary issue to cover ‘regional and other issues of mutual interest’.
—–Agencies