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Indo-China border pact signed
Highlights
Indo China Border Pact Signed, Manmohan In Beijing, India China Sign Border Pact. China and India signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement on Wednesday after a stand-off along their disputed frontier in April fuelled fears of conflict between the Asian giants.
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Beijing: China and India signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement on Wednesday after a stand-off along their disputed frontier in April fuelled fears of conflict between the Asian giants. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, visiting Beijing to seek a breakthrough in the border row that has soured relations for decades, witnessed the signing of the pact alongside Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
The agreement will "help to maintain peace, tranquillity and stability in our border areas", Li said following the ceremony. No further details were immediately available, but it was expected to include provisions for better communications between the two armies.
Singh told reporters: "We account for 2.5 billion people on this Earth and when India and China shake hands, the world notices." The frontier agreement "will add to the existing instruments to ensure peace, stability and predictability on our borders", he added.
Singh also raised the issue of stapled visas to two Indian women archers from Arunachal Pradesh by the Chinese Embassy in Delhi recently during discussions with Premier Li Keqiang at the Great Hall of the People here.
Singh told the media after his talks that "I conveyed to Premier Li our commitment to visa simplification to facilitate travel of Chinese nationals to India and expressed the hope that China will also facilitate such exchanges."
Ahead of the visit, there were indications that an agreement on a liberalised visa regime was close to being signed between the countries. But upset over the issue of stapled visa to Arunachal Pradesh residents, India decided to defer the issue in a virtual tit-for-tat.
Source said the agreement will be signed "some day" but for the moment India has decided to "slow down things". Refusing to go into the details of what was discussed in the meeting between the two prime ministers, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh said in reply to questions at a press briefing that the stapled visa came up.
"It will be under discussion," she said when asked whether the Chinese have given assurances on the issue of not resorting to such a practice in the future. The foreign secretary asserted that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India but refused to go into details of the discussions.
"I have told you what we can share with you at this moment," she said. Asked whether the issue of terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil was discussed at the meeting between Singh and Li, she said the issue did come up.
"Without going into details as to what we told them and what they told us, I can say it did come. We put it squarely on the table. We will not go into the specifics," she said. Pakistan and China have a good relationship which is described as "all weather" friends.
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