Boundary issue can’t be resolved overnight: China

Beijing: On the eve of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, China on Wednesday played down expectations of any breakthrough in resolving the vexed boundary dispute, saying though it will come up during his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, it cannot be resolved overnight.

“We are looking forward to the visit,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told media here, commenting on Modi’s three-day visit starting tomorrow (Thursday) from the historic city of Xi’an where he would hold informal talks with Xi on a host of issues, including the progress made on the boundary dispute resolution.

“The boundary question is an issue of common concern and will be covered in the discussions. Both sides are willing to resolve the boundary dispute at an early date and we have made great efforts to that end,” Hua said.

She said, “The early resolution of the boundary questions meets the aspiration of people from both sides and we all know that boundary question is a leftover from history and it cannot be resolved overnight.”

“But both sides are willing to stay in communication with each other on this question through the Special Representatives mechanism and through the other border issue related mechanisms and progress has been made in this regard,” she said.

Hua said China is willing to stay in communication with India to strive for “mutually acceptable, just and reasonable settlement” to the boundary question.

Meanwhile, Indian Premier Narendra Modi said Wednesday his upcoming visit to China would deepen bilateral relations and set a “new milestone” for Asia and developing countries.

“The 21st century belongs to Asia,” Modi told Chinese media in New Delhi before leaving for Beijing on Thursday.

“China and India should join hands and cooperate to promote world peace and stability. This is what the times demand from us,” he said.

Expectations are high on both sides as the two countries are headed by strong leaders providing an unique opportunity to look at the resolution of the boundary issue as 18 rounds of Special Representative talks have already been held with some incremental progress.

China says the border dispute is confined only to 2,000km mostly in Arunachal Pradesh, but India asserts the dispute covered the western side of the border spanning to about 4,000km, especially the Aksai Chin area annexed by China in 1962 war.

After informal talks with Xi, Modi will travel to Beijing where he is scheduled to hold structured talks with Premier Li Keqiang during which both sides are set to sign a number of agreements.