New Delhi, October 23 – India and China began a first round of talks on Thursday to seek a solution to a decades-old border dispute that has bedevilled ties between the world’s two most populous nations.
The nuclear-armed neighbours, who fought a brief border war in 1962, have been negotiating since 1998 to map exactly where their 3,500 km border lies, but with little success.
New Delhi and Beijing agreed to talks between their political envoys when Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited China in June-the first by an Indian prime minister in a decade — in a new push to settle the border dispute.
The day-long talks between National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra and China’s Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo in New Delhi are the product of that meeting.
Analysts say while Thursday’s round of negotiations is unlikely to achieve dramatic results, it would lay the ground for regular meetings between the two envoys to help conclude the pact.
Meanwhile, Tibetans living-in-exile in India took to the streets in the capital protesting against the visit of Dai.
Shouting slogans “Go back, Chinese go back,” the protesters demanded India should hold talks with Tibetans and not with Chinese.
“We the Tibetans demand that border issue should be discussed with the Tibetans and not with China because all the borders are linked with Tibetan territory and and not China so the talks should be held with the Tibetans,” said Tenzing Samphel, a Tibetan activist.
Chinese troops marched into Tibet in 1950 and Buddhist spiritual leader, Dalai Lama, alongwith his followers fled to India nine years later after an abortive uprising against communist rule.
The Tibetan refugees are now settled in different parts of India with the Dalai Lama establishing his headquarters in Dharamsala.
