China keen on accelerating border talks with India
May 24, 2016, 4:48 am

India has partnered with China on both the BRICS Bank and the AIIB [Xinhua]

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday that both China and India are committed to solving the disputes via negotiation.

“China is willing to continue working with India to accelerate the negotiation and solve the issue at an early date,” said Hua.

Both countries have joined negotiations, managed their disputes and preserved peace in the area under dispute for three decades, said Hua at a daily press briefing.

Earlier last month, China praised India’s decision to refuse to patrol the South China Sea with the US.

Mukherjee begins his visit on Tuesday at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

In an interview with Chinese media, the Indian President expressed willingness to find a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution to the border issue.

The Indian administration led by Narendra Modi has aimed at cooling down a standoff on the ill-defined and disputed border with China.

Last year, Modi, in an interview to a US magazine, said India and China do not need third parties to meddle in their affairs.

“I firmly believe that the relationship between two countries, the India-China relationship as you are referring to, should be such that to communicate with each other there should really not be a need for us to go through a third entity. That is the level of relationship that we currently have,” Modi said in an interview to Time magazine.

Modi has denied reports of increased friction with its Asian neighbour.

“For nearly three decades there has been, by and large, peace and tranquility on the India-China border. Not a single bullet has been fired for over a quarter-century. Both countries are showing great maturity and a commitment to economic cooperation,” Modi told Time.

The two countries have a number of boundary-related mechanisms including special representatives on the question.

The 19th Special Representatives’ Meeting on the China-India Boundary issue was held in Beijing on April 20. Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, special representative on the Chinese side and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval of India, special representative on the Indian side exchanged their views.

Official relations between the world’s two fastest growing economies have come a long way since the two fought a brief border war in 1962.

In a bid to ensure peace and tranquillity on the border, Chinese and Indian border troops have conducted a joint disaster relief exercise in February.

China is now India’s largest trading partner.

Beijing has asked New Delhi to join in its ambitious maritime and “southern Silk Road” project, especially an economic corridor across China, Burma, India and Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, Indian media reports on Tuesday said two Indian members of parliament scheduled to attend the swearing-in of Taiwan’s new President Tsai Ing-wen cancelled their participation, a move that could be interpreted as deference to China’s sensitive relations with Taiwan.

In her inaugural address on Friday, Taiwan’s new President chose to omit the mention of the “one-China” principle that affirms both sides are part of one country.

TBP and Agencies

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