Saturday, April 9 2005 13:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Indian and Chinese Special Representatives will hold a crucial round of boundary talks in New Delhi tomorrow (Apr 10, 2005) to formulate the "political guiding principles" to resolve the vexed issue, prior to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's parleys with the Indian leadership on Monday (Apr 11, 2005).

Chinese Executive Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, who is also its Special Representative, will hold the fifth round of boundary talks with his Indian counterpart M K Narayanan, also the National Security Advisor (NSA).

The meeting would be the first one between Dai and Narayanan, who was appointed Special Representative of India to the boundary talks last month following the death of his predecessor J N Dixit.

The two Special Representatives are expected to formulate the "political guiding principles" that would enable the two countries to resolve the vexed boundary issue in a mutually acceptable manner.

Already, Wen has expressed confidence that the boundary issue could be resolved by the two countries in a mutually acceptable way.

"I believe that as long as the two sides act in the spirit of mutual understanding and mutual accommodation, respect history while taking the reality into account, they will be able to find a mutually acceptable solution to the boundary questions through negotiations on an equal footing," Wen said in a recent interview in Beijing ahead of his four-day India visit beginning today (Apr 9, 2005).

Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, who visited Beijing on March 30-31 for the 15th round of the Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting of the India-China boundary issue, had held talks with Dai.

Saran and Dai had exchanged views on the positive developments in the ongoing process of settlement of the boundary question from the overall perspective of the bilateral relations.

During the JWG meting in Beijing, both sides had reviewed the ongoing process of LAC clarification and confidence building measures.

They highlighted the importance of the implementation of the bilateral agreements of 1993 and 1996 for maintenance of peace and tranquillity and for furthering confidence building measures in border areas so as to promote mutual trust and confidence, which is essential for the objective of a settlement of the boundary question.

"Judging from the current situation, it is likely for the two sides to reach consensus during Premier Wen's visit to India," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said in Beijing, adding that it may take time to resolve the border issue completely.

He noted that despite the boundary issue, the borders of two countries have been peaceful. "There are neither conflicts nor sound of guns. It is a great thing. The border issues will not prevent the two countries from developing good-neighbourly relations of friendship and cooperation in other fields in a comprehensive manner," Wu said.

The Special Representative mechanism was created during the June 2003 visit of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to China. The two sides agreed to each appoint a Special Representative to explore, from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship, the framework of a boundary settlement.

The India-China boundary issue is dealt by a three-tier dialogue mechanism. Apart from the Special Representatives, the two sides have the JWG as well as an Expert Group (EG) to discuss details of the border issue.

The India-China boundary issue has been lingering for many decades. India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms of Jammu and Kashmir, including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to Beijing by Islamabad under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.