New Delhi: Describing as "flawed" a Chinese official Xinhua agency report mentioning Sikkim as a country, India on August 21 asserted that Sikkim is its integral part and that a process has been started by which the North- Eastern state would cease to be an issue in Sino-India relations.

"It is obviously a flawed report which does not even include India in the list of neighbouring countries of China bordering Tibet," External Affairs Ministry spokesman told reporters, asserting "Sikkim is an integral part of India and a fact that cannot be altered by anyone".

He was asked about a report by Xinhua from Tibet that said, "Sharing long borders with a number of neighbouring Asian countries like Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Myanmar, Tibet boasts geographical advantages in expanding border trade."

The report did not mention India among the countries that shared the border with the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

During Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to China in June, the two countries had signed a border trade protocol to add a border trade point in Sikkim, by which Indian officials said Sikkim would cease to be an issue in India-China relations.

The spokesman reiterated that the understandings reached during Vajpayee's visit "have started the process by which Sikkim will cease to be an issue in relations between the two countries. "Naturally, this would happen through various steps", he added.

PTI