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India, China discuss shared boundary

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January 13, 2001 

NEW DELHI, India (AP) — India and China will address a long-standing dispute over a shared boundary in the barren Himalayan region and begin a security dialogue, the foreign ministry in New Delhi said Friday.

The boundary issue figured prominently in talks in New Delhi between Li Peng, the chairman of the Chinese People's National Congress, and President K.R Narayanan and Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh.

Foreign ministry officials predicted that the dispute will take time to resolve. Both sides were considering more frequent meetings of expert groups to discuss the issue, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Li's eight-day-visit to India is aimed at promoting friendship and trust between the two countries, which fought a 21-day war in 1962. India and China have been holding talks since 1988 to settle the boundary dispute and signed agreements in 1993 and 1996 committing themselves to respecting existing cease-fire lines, pending an eventual solution.

India says China is illegally occupying 14,500 square miles which it seized during the war, in a northwestern region adjoining Kashmir state. Beijing says India is holding 36,000 square miles of Chinese territory in what is now the eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

At a reception held Friday to honor Li, he said President Narayanan's June visit to Beijing helped remove irritants that had cropped up in bilateral relations after India's nuclear tests in May 1998.

Li described his visit to India as very successful, paving the way for further friendship and cooperation.

``India has opened up and modernized. I see a lot of change here,'' Li was quoted as saying by the United News of India news agency. He last visited India in the early 1990s.

Heavy security was provided for Li in New Dehli. About 40 Tibetan protesters were arrested Thursday when they demonstrated near the Indian parliament building to protest China's occupation of Tibet.

Another 15 Tibetan protesters were arrested Friday when they tried to disrupt the Chinese leader's sight seeing tour of New Delhi. The protesters were whisked away before Li arrived.

Later Friday, Li met with opposition leader Sonia Gandhi for 20 minutes. He will meet Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday before leaving for Bangalore, India's information technology hub.