President's China visit discussed at JWG

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, APRIL 28. India and China hope the President, Mr. K. R. Narayanan's visit to Beijing next month would give a big boost to bilateral relations that have been on the upswing in the recent months.

Senior Indian and Chinese officials met here today at the 12th round of the Joint Working Group (JWG) and considered the substantive issues relating to Mr. Narayanan's trip to China at the end of May.

Mr. Narayanan's visit is being seen as an opportunity for intensive consultations at the highest political level for the first time since India conducted nuclear tests in May 1998.

At the JWG, which concluded its deliberations today, the Chinese side was led by the Vice Foreign Minister, Mr. Yang Wenchang, while Mr. Lalit Mansingh headed the Indian team. Mr. Yang today called on the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh.

Resolving the long-standing boundary dispute has been the principal objective of the JWG, that was set up in 1988. But the pace of talks on the boundary questions has been glacial. There was no official comment on the talks today from the Foreign Office. The JWG has become a forum for exchange of views on a broad range of issues and in particular, matters of mutual concern.

It was expected that China would raise concerns about what it calls the ``splittist activities'' of the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. India does not allow political activity by the Dalai Lama.

India has its concerns about Beijing's continuing reluctance to acknowledge Sikkim as an integral part of India. Chinese sources say their position on Sikkim is ``evolving and flexible''. Last week the Government told Parliament it would take up with China its official depiction of Sikkim as an independent country.

India is also deeply concerned about China's support to Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes. The issue had figured at the first round of security dialogue between the two countries at Beijing last month. India was expected to take up the issue again at the JWG today.

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