India, China conclude 10th round of border talks

New Delhi, Apr 23: India and China concluded their tenth round of talks to resolve the decades old border dispute without any result and agreed to meet at the next round of the discussions at a mutually convenient date.

The two-day talks between the Special Representatives of the two countries--National Security Advisor (NSA) M K Narayanan and Dai Bingguo, Vice Foreign Minister of China, were held at New Delhi and the picturesque Coonoor, about 70 km from Coimbatore, from April 20-22.

''The talks were held in an open, friendly, cooperative and constructive atmosphere,' a statement issued by the External Affairs Ministry here today said.

The two Special Representatives continued their discussions on a framework for the boundary settlement on the basis of the Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles, the statement said.

Mr. Dai Bingguo paid courtesy calls on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on April 20.

Both sides agreed to hold the next round of talks at a mutually-convenient time, which will be decided through diplomatic channels, the statement added.

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