New Delhi, October 22: Ahead of the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in Thailand, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Thursday said India is committed to resolving the boundary issue with Beijing through peaceful negotiations.
“India is committed to resolving the boundary question through peaceful negotiations and in a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable manner,” Kumar said during a meeting with Zha Peixin, vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress of China in Geneva.
Kumar stressed that India’s strategic and cooperative partnership with China has witnessed all-round progress in recent years and recalled efforts to build trust and confidence between the militaries of the two countries.
Kumar is in Geneva to attend 121st Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union that ended Wednesday.
She took over as the chair of the Asia-Pacific Geo-political Group for the year 2010 from Zha. The Asia-Pacific Group has 27 member countries in the region.
Zha recalled that both sides have reiterated that pending the resolution of boundary question, peace and tranquility must be maintained in the border areas in the interest of both countries.
Zha said that the economies of India and China complement each other and stressed that Beijing would like to see a stronger India.
P.D.T. Achary, secretary general of the Lok Sabha, and Rajiv K. Chander, deputy permanent representative of India to the United Nations, were also present at the meeting.
Manmohan Singh will meet Wen on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Thailand later this week.
The meeting between Manmohan Singh and Wen assumes significance in view of the heated rhetoric between the two countries on a host of issues, including reported Chinese incursions and Beijing’s objections to the visit of Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, to Arunachal Pradesh, India’s northeastern state over whose territory Beijing has made claims.
—IANS