Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit here next month, China on Wednesday said the border dispute has “good prospects” of resolution if it is backed by “strong political will” from both sides.
Huang Xilian, Deputy Director General of Asian Affairs, said Beijing wants India and China to act as a “bridge” for the development of Nepal and Sri Lanka so as to reduce strategic rivalry between the two Asian giants and firm up their strategic influence in the region.
“There are lot of perceptions about border issue. So long as the two leaderships have strong political will we have good prospects for the resolution of the border issue,” Mr. Huang said at a briefing to Indian media about Mr. Modi’s visit which is expected to take place in the third week of next month.
Mr. Huang stated that progress has been made in recent Special Representatives (SR) talks held in New Delhi.
“We believe that the two SRs will continue to carry on this process according to the consensus reached by the two leaders,” he said in reply to a question as to whether China is open for a resolution of the border dispute based on status quo.
China says the border dispute is confined only to 2,000 km mostly in Arunachal Pradesh whereas India asserts that the dispute covered the western side of the border spanning to about 4,000 km, especially the Aksai Chin area annexed by China in 1962 war.
The two sides have held 18 rounds of talk and expectations are high on both sides as both Mr. Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping were regarded as strong leaders who could clinch a solution.
“We have a very long border. You can see anywhere in the world there will be shooting crimes, but generally speaking, along the border we have maintained peace and stability, there have been no shooting incidents in the past decade. What is important is that both sides should work together to avoid such kind of incidents and promote tranquillity and stability,” he said.
Praising the Indian Prime Minister’s leadership, Mr. Huang said since “Modi took over, the whole international community has shown interest in India. We have seen the new momentum has been achieved in economic development.” “Made in China and ‘Make in India’ can work together,” he said.
“The new government introduced a lot of reforms and measures. We are happy to see the new momentum and hope that India will achieve progress in future and develop faster,” Mr. Huang said adding that India’s development will bring more opportunities to China and the region.
Hectic preparations are underway on both sides to make Mr. Modi’s visit a success and Mr. Huang said a number of agreements were expected to be signed during the trip.
