Monday, September 26 2005 19:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: India and China have adopted formal and informal means to address their boundary dispute as their Special Representatives held talks today (Sept 26, 2005) aimed at finding a 'package' solution to the vexed issue.

India's National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo met informally in the eastern metropolis, Shanghai during the weekend before arriving here for official-level negotiations, an official source told sources.

"The two Special Representatives had long and many informal meetings in Shanghai before coming here," he said, adding the two sides were addressing the issues involved in a determined way.

Even today, the first day of the sixth round of talks, Dai requested for an informal meeting prior to the holding of delegation-level negotiations, which went on for nearly 45 minutes at the picturesque Diaoyutai State Guest House.

Prior to the informal meeting, Narayanan and Dai shook hands, exchanged pleasantries and posed for photos, displaying good chemistry between the two Special Representatives who are tasked with a difficult task.

Indian Ambassador Nalin Surie, Joint Secretary, East Asia, Ministry of External Affairs, Ashok Kantha and other senior officials are attending the in-camera talks.

Narayanan, who is on his first visit to China, will call on Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member and Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Jia Qinglin in Beijing tomorrow (Sept 27, 2005).

He will also meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing tomorrow.

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

Earlier, commenting on the meeting, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the two sides will discuss the framework for resolving the border issue by starting from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relations in line with the Political Guiding Principles for Solving the Border Issue between China and India.

"We believe the two sides will be able to find a solution which is fair and reasonable and acceptable to both sides through equal consultation and mutual understanding and accommodation in the spirit of the political guiding principles," Qin said.

India and China had agreed on the Political Guiding Principles on settling the border issue during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to India in April this year.

The principles stresses that the differences on the boundary question should not be allowed to affect the overall development of bilateral relations.