Beijing: China for the first time today (Jan 15, 2004) publicly said that a process was on to settle the Sikkim problem with India and hoped an early solution to the vexed border issue could be found based on mutual accommodation and understanding.

"The Sikkim issue is a question left over by history. During Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China, the two sides have launched a process of settling this question," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters when asked to comment whether Beijing recognised Sikkim as part of India.

Despite India and China signing a border trade agreement through Sikkim during Vajpayee's visit to China in June 2003, Beijing had not publicly acknowledged the process of recognising the North Eastern Indian State as part of India.

However, China's Foreign Ministry had quietly stopped showing Sikkim as a separate country in October 2003, just prior to Vajpayee's second meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Bali, Indonesia.