India, China conclude first day's border talks

New Delhi, Jan 17 (UNI) India and China today concluded the first day's talks of their two-day discussions to resolve the longstanding border dispute.

National Security Advisor (NSA) M K Narayanan and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, Special Representatives for India and China respectively for the talks, will continue deliberations tomorrow as well.

Discussions were held in a ''cordial and friendly atmosphere and are inconclusive,'' officials said without giving any details of what transpired at the first day's talks.

India had pledged to improve ties with its Asian neighbours by resolving a decades-old boundary dispute with China.

''We are very interested in settling the border dispute as early as possible...in a manner that will be satisfactory for both sides, and will not remain an issue that can be taken up years later,'' Mr Narayanan said in Cebu (Philippines) where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao for nearly an hour.

Mr Narayanan said both sides wanted to work with ''greater vigour'' to end the dispute.

China lays claim on the Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh while India rejects the claim.

India accuses Pakistan of illegally ceding part of the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) to China.

Dr Singh met Chinese President Hu Jintao here last year and the two leaders agreed that an early resolution of the boundary issue would advance the basic interests of the two countries and invest their strategic partnership with further strength and dynamism.

The Special Representatives have been asked to finalise the framework of a boundary settlement on the basis of the agreement on political parameters and guiding principles signed in April last year.

In Cebu, the two Prime Ministers asked their respective Special Representatives to pursue search for a solution to the question ''with greater vigour and innovativeness.'' India has said the border question must be solved on the basis of the Guiding Principles agreed upon in 2005.

During President Hu's visit to Delhi last November, the two sides had agreed to step up the efforts to find a solution to the boundary dispute and not allow it to hinder growth of the bilateral relationship in other areas.

Both sides see an early settlement of the boundary question as a ''strategic objective''.

UNI