India and China to begin 17th round of border talks from February 10

NEW DELHI: India and China will begin their seventeenth round of special representative talks on the protracted boundary issue in Delhi on February 10, the last such meeting under the Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime before the nation goes to polls in May.

It will also be the first such meeting since the two neighbours signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement during PM Manmohan Singh’s trip to Beijing last year. The pact is part of the confidence building measures being adopted to maintain status quo and stability along the nearly 4,057-km line of actual control the two countries share.

National Security Advisor and special representative (SR) Shivshankar Menon is expected to discuss with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, strategic issues including the situation in Afghanistan, East Asia and Southeast Asia, besides the boundary dispute, according to officials.