PM seeks demarcation of boundary
Chinese Prez wants early resolution of dispute
NewZNew (New Delhi) : India and China today concluded talks amid the overhang of latest incursions in Ladakh with Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing serious concern over repeated violations along the border.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said some incidents could occur in areas yet to be demarcated but both sides should work fast to seek amicable relations with each other.
With reports of incursions by the Chinese army and civilians in Chumur and Demchok sectors of Ladakh pouring in over the past two days, both leaders went into talks in both restricted and delegation-level format that lasted nearly three hours.
“I raised our serious concern over repeated incidents along the border. We agreed that peace and tranquility in the border region constitutes an essential foundation for the mutual trust and confidence and for realising the full potential of our relationship. This is an important understanding, which should be strictly observed.
“While our border-related agreements and confidence building measures have worked well, I also suggested that clarification of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) would greatly contribute to our efforts to maintain peace and tranquility and requested President Xi to resume the stalled process of clarifying the LAC. We should also seek an early settlement of the boundary question,” Modi said in his statement at the conclusion of the talks.
President Xi said “boundary issue is a problem which has troubled both sides for long. The China-India border areas have maintained peace and tranquility. As the area is yet to be demarcated, there may be some incidents. China and India are important nations to each other, there are outstanding issues but both sides must work fast to handle them to seek amicable relations with each other”.
Modi said New Delhi’s concerns relating to China’s visa policy and trans-border rivers were taken up and expressed confidence that these will be resolved early. India has put on hold a liberalised visa regime that China seeks for business visitors to convey its displeasure over issuance of stapled visas for Indian citizens from Arunachal Pradesh.
Both sides also discussed issues of regional and international developments, agreeing to strengthen strategic dialogue since both have shared interest in a peaceful and stable region, including stability and prosperity in Afghanistan.
On regional connectivity and the proposal for the Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar Economic Corridor, Modi said since India was located at the crossroads of Asia, it believed that reconnecting Asia was important for its collective prosperity.
China welcomed India’s bid to get membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to which it has been an observer since 2005.
[blockquote author=”Xi said.” pull=”pullright”]“China welcomes and supports India’s full membership in the Shanghai Corporation Organisation, as it expects India to support China in building relations with SAARC so that the two countries can work together to contribute our due share to regional stability and development,”[/blockquote]
The takeaway from the bilateral talks was a slew of agreements, signed over two days, envisaging $20 billion investment; opening up of Chinese market to farm, pharma, jewellery products; additional route to Kailash Mansarovar; two industrial parks in India; cooperation in railways; addressing concerns of trade imbalance; exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes and start the process of discussion for cooperation in civil nuclear energy. A city in each country will be identified to demonstrate the smart city project.
