India and China held talks on resolving their decades-old border row amid the sylvan surroundings of the Nilgiri hills here Saturday evening.
The Indian and Chinese delegations were ensconced at the Taj Retreat, surrounded by tall Chinars and Deodars which screened the Chinese visitors from the protests of Tibetan refugees living in the district for the last 50 years.
One round of talks is being held Saturday night and a second round is to be held Sunday.
Chinese Special Representative Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo – Beijing’s chief pointsman for the border talks, and National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, India’s Special Representative for the talks, had held brief discussions in New Delhi Friday – the first day of the 10th round of talks between them.
India’s envoy to China Nirupama Rao and her Chinese counterpart in India San Yu Si are among the 19 officials assisting the talks.
According to district administration sources, the Indian and Chinese delegations arrived by helicopter and cars at Coonoor amid tight security.
While Narayanan arrived here from Coimbatore by a helicopter, the other members of the two delegations came by road from Coimbatore, travelling about 75 km.
The officials have asked that print and electronic media not be allowed at the venue, not even the state-accredited media.
‘We have taken all necessary precautions for such a high-profile meeting,’ said collector Santosh K. Misra.
Around 75 families of Tibetan refugees settled in the Nilgiris, kept at bay by the local police, have decided to protest by keeping their shops selling woollens and trinkets closed Sunday.
On Sunday, the Chinese delegation is to go to the pretty resort of Udhagamandalam (Ooty town) and visit a botanical garden on Garden Road there to see an exotic flower show.
The Tibetans have their shops just near the entrance to the botanical gardens.
The police have refused the Tibetans permission to hold a black flag demonstration before the visiting delegation, said Pal Jor, the president of the Tibetan Refugees Welfare Association.
‘So, we have decided to close our shops to register our protest,’ he said.
‘We want peace. India has been good to us,’ Pal Jor said. He has been living in Udhagamandalam for the last 48 years, since he was eight.
‘It is for the Chinese to realise our sufferings away from Tibet and longing for our homeland. We still have dreams of returning to an independent Tibet,’ he said.
Dai had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday during which the border issue came up.
Ahead of the talks, China hoped the parleys would be constructive and some ‘positive results’ could emerge out of it in view of the joint decision to expedite the negotiation process.
India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq km of Jammu and Kashmir, including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to Beijing by Islamabad under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963.
On the other hand, China claims India is occupying 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory, mostly in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
The two special representatives last met in New Delhi in January and decided to continue their talks based on guiding principles and political parameters finalised during the visit of Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in 2005 for resolving the border dispute.
Border talks between the Asian powers are now often held away from the din of the Indian capital. A brainchild of Narayanan, the two countries had earlier held border talks in the famed Kerala resort of Kumarakom and then again in the backdrop of the erotic temple sculptures of Khajuraho.
As they meet again after just three months, there is speculation that the two sides want some kind of agreement on a settlement that may be the highlight of Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing later this year.
‘The special representatives shall complete at an early date the task of finalising an appropriate framework for a final package settlement of the India-China boundary,’ the joint declaration had said after Chinese President Hu Jintao’s talks with Manmohan Singh last November.
The border negotiations began in 2003.
