Barely a week to go before he embarks on his official visit to China, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday downplayed reports suggesting that the Chinese leadership had hardened its stand on the boundary issue.
He said that the ties between the two countries were in “very good shape”. The process of resolving the long-pending boundary dispute was on and that “it was a complicated matter,” he added.
While Singh’s visit, first one as prime minister, is keenly awaited against the backdrop of the lack of any progress in the periodic boundary talks being held at the level of the Special Representatives’ of the two governments, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has already sounded a word of caution.
The minister recently said nothing dramatic should be expected to emerge out of the prime minister’s visit to China on  the boundary problem.
Even so, top government officials believe that the January 13 visit would go a long way in removing some of Chinese suspicions about India in the recent past over such issues as Indo-US ties and the nuclear issue. He is expected to pitch for Chinese support in relaxing NSG norms to enable India to return to international civil nuclear trade market.
Singh, who was at the Rashtrapati Bhawan for the swearing-in of Vinod Rai as the new CAG, indicated that he might not go to Sri Lanka next month to take part in the diamond jubilee celebration of the island country’s independence.
Political parties from Tamil Nadu like MDMK are against a prime ministerial visit at the moment.