BEIJING, January 12 – China and India agreed on Tuesday to meet in India at the end of next month for negotiations on their disputed border, wrapping up two days of talks China described as “friendly and practical”.
Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran met Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan during the second round of strategic dialogue between the Asian giants, who are trying to build on warming ties as their economic relationship deepens.
Saran also met Dai Bingguo, China’s deputy foreign minister and special representative for the border talks.
“The two sides have agreed to hold the seventh round of border talks between the two special representatives in India in late February. The exact time will be set through diplomatic channels,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a regular news conference.
China and India fought a brief but bloody war over their 3,500-km border in 1962, but last year agreed on a roadmap to settle the row politically rather than technically.
New Delhi disputes Beijing’s rule over a vast area of uninhabited land on the Tibetan plateau which China seized during the war. China claims 90,000 square km of territory mostly in the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
Kong said relations between the two countries were also developing in other areas, a comment underscored by a visit by Indian oil minister Mani Shankar Aiyar set to begin on Wednesday.
“The rapid progress has brought practical benefits to the two peoples and is favourable to peace and stability in all of Asia,” he said. “Such cooperation certainly includes cooperation on resources and energy that the two sides see necessary.”
Chinese and Indian firms have competed for energy assets around the world as their economies expand, but during Aiyar’s visit companies from both countries are expected to sign deals for joint business initiatives.
The two governments, which both depend on imports to secure supplies, are also likely to seal an agreement for energy cooperation, Indian officials say.
In December, China National Petroleum Corp and India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp jointly won an auction for PetroCanada’s Syrian fields.
