Indian envoy hopeful of resolving stapled visa issue

The issue of issuance of stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir, which has raised concerns of sovereignty and integrity of India, figured prominently during the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Wen.

Speaking at a prime time show on the state-run CCTV here, Jaishankar said stapled visas was one of issues that "caught a lot of attention" during the visit of Wen.

"This (stapled visas) caused a lot public resentment in India. Here again it was candidly discussed, (during the talks between Wen and Singh).

"There was an understanding that officials will meet and this would be appropriately resolved. Few months from now if I am sitting with you I might give you more positive outlook on this issue," he said, adding the issue raised concerns over the sovereignty and integrity of India.

The differences over the unsettled border issues also figured high in the Wen-Singh talks.

"Border is complicated issue. It is a border of 3500 km (Chinese official media says only 2000 km omitting about 1600 km on the Jammu and Kashmir front) most of it is unsettled.

So it is complicated negotiations" being conducted by the Special Representatives of both the countries, he said.

The two sides held the 14th round of border talks before Wen's visit to India.

"The most important development so far is that borders remained peaceful and tranquil and that we have agreements in 1993, 1996 and 2005 to ensure nothing goes wrong at the borders. With 3500 km long borders anything can go wrong," he said.

So far "we actually worked guiding principles and political parameters on how to settle the border. So we have a framework in which we are actually moving to settle the border," he said.

"This comes down to practicalities on the ground," he said stressing that patience is required.

Jaishankar sounded upbeat about achieving the USD 100 billion trade target set for 2015 and was positive on the Premier's promise that China will be "more open" to prime Indian products like IT, pharmaceuticals and agro products.

"Let me make a prediction. We will reach the goal much faster than 2015. I think to reach it what we need to see is much more balanced trade picture," he said.

He insisted that the positive outcome of the visit was the assurance to address longstanding Indian concerns of market access to Chinese markets.

"We heard directly from the Prime Minister himself that China would be more open in all these areas," he said.

"To me if the Prime Minister China recognises your concerns and promises remedy I take that very seriously. I think it is a very strong assurance. If we see action I am sure we will meet USD 100 billion ahead of time," Jaishankar said.

On the joint statement issued at the end of Wen's visit, which for the first time skipped references to reaffirm Tibet and Taiwan being integral part of China, Jaishankar said both the countries followed "constructive approach" to build a good relationship.

Without referring the omission of Tibet and Taiwan, he said the "broad approach" the two countries followed is to have "mutual respect and sensitivity to mutual concerns".
He said the visit displayed "a great deal of comfort, lot of candour, very strong chemistry between the two Prime Ministers."

He said while there are issues, the two countries should resolve them by openly addressing them.

Pakistan's Ambassador to China, Masood Khan who also took part in the same programme said Wen's visit to Pakistan pushed the the already close relations between the two countries to a "higher platform".

Speaking from Islamabad, Khan said Wen himself has stated that the relationship has gone beyond bilateral dimension acquiring "broad regional and international ramifications".

He also spoke highly of Chinese Premier's announcement to provide an additional grant of USD 400 million for the development of flood affected areas.

Wen who arrived in New Delhi on Dec 15, went to Pakistan on Dec 17. He returned home today after concluding the visit to two countries.