China ready to break new ground on border talks

• India says border talks cover China-occupied 4,000 km
• China says it confined to about 2,000 km in Arunachal Pradesh
• China refers to Arunachal Pradesh as Southern Tibet

Beijing (PTI): China said on Friday it was ready to "break new ground" with India to resolve the boundary dispute as the Special Representatives of the two countries held 16th round of border talks to find a solution to the vexed issue. "I stand ready to work with you to build on the work of our predecessors and break new ground to strive for the settlement of the China-India boundary question and to make greater progress in the China India strategic an cooperative partnership in the new period," newly appointed Chinese Special Representative Yang Jiechi said here.

Former foreign minister Yang, who took over from the long-standing Chinese Special Representative Dai Bingguo, welcomed his Indian counterpart National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, saying "the two Special Representatives have a lofty mission and heavy responsibilities". This is the first meeting of the border talks after the new leadership took over in China in March. India asserts that the dispute covered about 4,000 km, while China claims that it confined to about 2,000 km to the area of Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers as Southern Tibet.

"As you have said we are meeting at a moment when India- China relations have achieved a momentum and are moving in the right direction. It is our conviction that we are at a moment of strategic opportunity for this relationship," Menon said.

During his two-day stay in Beijing, Menon is due to meet Premier Li and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Menon's talks with Chinese leaders is also expected to focus on recent intrusion by Chinese forces in India's Depsang Valley in Ladakh region. The border talks are currently in second stage of the three stage process which has been agreed in the beginning. The first stage was to do the guiding principles which resulted in 2005 agreement on the political parameters and guiding principles for boundary settlement.

The second stage is aimed at working out a framework for boundary settlement. Once a framework was in place the countries will proceed to actual business of drawing boundary. Besides border negotiations, the Special Representatives are designated to discuss all most all aspects of the relations between the two countries which meant that a host of issues from river waters, trade deficit as well as strategic issues including mutual concerns over their neighbiourhood policies were expected to figure in the talks.