Patience needed to settle border dispute: China

BEIJING, APRIL 3. The Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. Tang Jiaxuan, has said he is confident of resolving the Sino-Indian border dispute but insists that time and patience are required from both sides in arriving at a reasonable settlement.

The boundary question between China and India was a complicated question left over from history, he said in an interview to PTI.

Seemingly unperturbed by the fact that 11 rounds of border talks had been held so far without much progress, he said that both sides were required to show patience to give required time to solve the problem. ``We are confident that as long as the two sides follow the principle of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, we will be able to create a favourable atmosphere for an ultimate reasonable settlement of the boundary question through friendly consultation.''

India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq. km. of Jammu and Kashmir, including 5,180 sq. km. illegally ceded to Beijing by Pakistan under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq. km. of Chinese territory.

Mr. Tang noted that both China and India had agreed that the boundary question should be settled through peaceful negotiations and that pending its solution, the two sides should jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas.

Since 1989, the Sino-Indian joint working group (JWG) on the boundary issue has held 11 rounds of talks. The JWG mechanism was established during the visit of former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, to China in 1988.

The two countries have also signed two agreements on the maintenance of peace and tranquility and confidence-building measures (CBMs) in the border areas along the line of actual control (LAC) in 1993 and 1996 respectively.

Asked about the signing of agreements between the two countries, Mr. Tang said, ``The signing and implementation of the agreements represents an achievement of the negotiations between the two sides on the basis of consultations on an equal footing and mutual understanding and mutual accommodation.''

``These two agreements will help maintain peace and tranquility along the LAC between China and India and create a sound climate for the eventual resolution of the boundary question.'' This also constitutes a positive contribution the two nations have made to regional security and stability, he said.

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Section  : International
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