India, China hold border talks at Coonoor on Apr 21-22

New Delhi, Apr 20 (UNI) India and China will hold yet another round of border talks at Coonoor, about 70 km from Coimbatore, tomorrow and on April 22 to resolve a decades-old border dispute.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo, who is Beijing's Special Representative on the border issue, will meet his Indian counterpart, National Security Advisor (NSA) M K Narayanan.

Mr Dai Bingguo, who arrived here earlier today, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and the NSA.

Officials described these as ''courtsey calls.'' However, sources said the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister discussed with them several bilateral matters including the border issue.

Formal talks will be held at the picturesque Coonoor tomorrow and the day after. Mr Dai Bingguo and Mr Narayanan will go to Coonoor tomorrow.

India says China occupies 38,000 sq km of its territory in Jammu and Kashmir while Beijing claims about 90,000 sq km of the Northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The India-China Border Talks Mechanism was established in 2003 when two countries appointed Special Representatives to discuss the the issue. No timeframe has been fixed for resolving the vexed dispute.

Both countries have said they gave priority to settling the border issue.

The two Special Representatives, who met here in January, had decided to continue talks based on 'guiding principles and political parameters' for resolving the boundary dispute.

UNI