India, China to work together on boundary question

India and China on Saturday agreed on the need to deal with the protracted boundary dispute in a manner to be in sync with the long-term and overall interests of the bilateral relations between the two neighbours.

The two nations agreed to explore new measures to avert future flashpoints along their long and disputed boundary. They also agreed to step up their development partnership without undermining each other’s sensitivities, concerns and aspirations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met China's Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi at Chengdu in Sichuan province of the communist country on Saturday to hold the 21st round of negotiations to resolve the vexed boundary dispute.

Doval and Wang are at present leading the negotiation for a settlement of India-China boundary disputes as special representatives of the respective governments.

They agreed on the “importance of approaching the boundary question from the strategic perspective of India-China relations and agreed that an early settlement of the boundary question serves the fundamental interests of both countries”, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi stated in a press release issued after the two Special Representatives concluded talks in Chengdu. They also agreed that “an early settlement of the boundary question” would serve the “fundamental interests” of both India and China.

The 21st round of boundary negotiation was, in fact, the first between the two neighbouring nations after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping held an “informal summit” at Wuhan in central China on April 27 and 28. The “informal summit” marked a thaw in the complex bilateral relations, which hit a new low last year over the 72-day-long military face-off between the two nations at Doklam Plateau in western Bhutan.