China top diplomat meets Indian officials for border talks
March 23, 2015, 7:29 am

India-China delegations led by Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval hold border talks in New Delhi, India on 23 March 2015 [MEA, india]

This is the 18^th round of border talks between the two neighbours.

China ‘s top diplomat and State Councillor Yang Jiechi is meeting Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in Delhi alongwith other visiting Chinese senior officials.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had recently said China and India should “do more” to strengthen bilateral cooperation to clinch a final settlement of the boundary issue.

“The dispute has been contained. At the moment, the boundary negotiation is in the process of building up small positive developments,” Wang said ahead of the border talks.

Yang Jiechi, who leads his delegation to India, is also likely to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.

The Indian Prime Minister is due to visit China in May this year.

During talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj last month in Beijing, Wang said the two countries “should be good friends” who are working together to promote “democratization of international relations and to safeguard the overall interests of developing countries”.

China and India share a 2,000-km-long border that has never been formally delineated. The two countries began discussing border issues in the 1980s.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Modi have met with each other three times since last year.

With a combined population of 2.5 billion, China, the world’s second largest economy, and India are increasingly playing an important and influential role in the global economy.

New Delhi and Beijing have set a target to reach $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2015 although India’s trade deficit with China reached a record $ 31.4 billion in 2013, new trade figures released by China last year revealed.

TBP