India, China Begin Talks on Border Issue
(The Hindu | New Delhi | October 23, 2004)
Four months after being appointed as Special Representatives to address the contentious border dispute, the Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister, Dai Bingguo, and the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, held their first-ever meeting today. Mr. Dai and Mr. Mishra first held a one-on-one meeting this morning and were then joined by other members of their delegations. The Chinese Special Representative, who arrived here last night, is accompanied by a six-member delegation.
The Special Representatives have been tasked to look at the border dispute from a political perspective and evolve a framework to help address the dispute as per the India-China joint statement issued in June this year. After the discussions, Mr. Mishra hosted a dinner at Hyderabad House in honour of Mr. Dai. No details of the meeting were released to the press. However, depending on the deliberations, a formal statement may be issued to the media.
A significant part of the agenda, however, is that Mr. Dai and Mr. Mishra, both of whom enjoy the confidence of their leaders, will fix a date to meet again. Tomorrow, Mr. Dai will call on the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha. He is also expected to visit Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram.
According to official sources, the fact that Mr. Dai and Mr. Mishra will meet again show that the two sides are serious about the process which, it is hoped, will help resolve the border dispute. Prior to the meeting of Mr. Vajpayee and his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, in Bali earlier this month, Beijing informed New Delhi that it would remove Sikkim from the list of independent countries maintained on the official Chinese Foreign Ministry website. The promise was adhered to. The sources also believe that the new Chinese leadership has displayed a pragmatic approach in dealing with foreign policy issues in general — not just with India, but with other countries as well.
As far as India is concerned, a detailed meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security was held recently with a single-point agenda — India's relations with China. One of its objectives was to provide Mr. Mishra with a "brief" to help in the talks with Mr. Dai.
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