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Business News/ Politics / News/  India, China sign pact to set up border management mechanism
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India, China sign pact to set up border management mechanism

India, China sign pact to set up border management mechanism

Exploring options: India’s national security adviser Shivshankar Menon (right) and Chinese state councillor Dai Bingguo at the 15th round of India-China Special Representatives Talks in New Delhi on TPremium

Exploring options: India’s national security adviser Shivshankar Menon (right) and Chinese state councillor Dai Bingguo at the 15th round of India-China Special Representatives Talks in New Delhi on T

New Delhi: India and China signed a pact on Tuesday to set up a border management mechanism to maintain peace along the undemarcated boundary between the two neighbours.

The pact was signed by Liu Zhenmin, assistant minister in the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs, and S. Jaishankar, India’s ambassador to China, at the end of the two-day 15th round of talks on the border dispute in New Delhi.

Exploring options: India’s national security adviser Shivshankar Menon (right) and Chinese state councillor Dai Bingguo at the 15th round of India-China Special Representatives Talks in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo: Shahbaz Khan/PTI

It “will explore the possibility of cooperation in the border areas that are agreed upon by the two sides" and “will undertake other tasks that are mutually agreed upon by the two sides but will not discuss resolution of the boundary question", it added.

The mechanism, suggested by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his December 2010 India visit, will be headed by joint secretary in India’s foreign ministry Gautam Bambawale and the director general in China’s department of boundary affairs Deng Zhonghua. It comes after many reports in the Indian media about repeated “violations" by Chinese army patrols along the Line of Actual Control.

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India and China have signed a pact on managing their contentious border. Mint’s Elizabeth Roche explains its significance.

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In another significant move, the two special representatives discussing the border conflict—India’s national security adviser Shivshankar Menon and China’s state councillor Dai Bingguo—agreed that they would prepare “a joint agreed record for their governments on the progress made so far in the talks on the boundary question", an Indian foreign ministry statement said.

This would codify the details of the many rounds of talks between Dai and India’s special representatives so that the next round of dialogue will carry on from this point, a person close to the developments said. India has had four special representatives since the establishment of this mechanism for the resolution of the boundary issue in 2003, while China has been represented by Dai all along.

Both developments are important given that Dai is expected to step down from his present position in 2013 as China effects its once-in-a-decade leadership change, said Rup Narayan Das, an analyst with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.

“This is the first time since 2005 that there is some tangible progress on the border issue. It speaks of better understanding and cooperation between the two countries," Das said, referring to the mutual suspicion stemming from the border conflict. “It also suggests a shrinkage in the trust deficit between the two countries."

The boundary conflict stems from a brief but bitter border conflict between India and China in 1962. As it stands, China claims 90,000 sq. km of Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh and occupies around 38,000 sq. km in Jammu and Kashmir, which India claims as its territory. Also, under the China-Pakistan “boundary agreement signed in March 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq. km of Indian territory in PoK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir) to China", foreign minister S.M. Krishna told Parliament two years ago.

elizabeth.r@livemint.com

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Published: 17 Jan 2012, 11:41 PM IST
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