Sino-Indian border talks resume, likely to be dead heat

NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of Beijing���s fresh claims on Arunachal Pradesh, the special representatives of India and China met on Friday to discuss the boundary issue, but not much forward movement is expected in the two-day talks.

National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and vice-minister for foreign affairs Dai Bingguo started talks on Friday in an attempt to re-energise talks on the boundary issue. For the last three years, boundary discussions have been stuck on Tawang, a monastery town which China is claiming as its own in what is largely seen as a politically motivated move.

China has maintained that Tawang, which is the birthplace of the sixth Dalai Lama, should be given to the Tibetans in China. A position that has found no favour with the Tibetan government in exile. China���s claims on Tawang are behind the constant public statements on Arunachal Pradesh.

New Delhi has refused to accept Chinese claims and has told Beijing repeatedly that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. The Indian side has also made it very clear that it will not accept any boundary settlement that involves exchange of territory of inhabited areas.

The boundary talks are taking place in the backdrop of recent attempts by China to block an ADB loan for Arunachal Pradesh and to put a hold on India���s attempts to get Jaish-e-Mohammad Maulana Masood Azhar designated a terrorist by the UN Security Council.

On the loan, external affairs minister S M Krishna had said that New Delhi had conveyed to the ADB member nations, including China, that Arunachal Pradesh is ���an integral part of India and its status is not negotiable���. ���We have put across (to China) in the strongest diplomatic language possible that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India,��� he had said.

Sources said the two sides are looking not just into the boundary issue during the two-day talks but also into ���regional and other issues of mutual interest���. This is a departure from the usual format of the talks where the special representatives focus solely on the boundary issue. But the format has been tweaked around as this is the first high-level visit from China since the UPA came back to power after the elections.

The Indian side in the talks includes foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, a former ambassador to Beijing, and officials from PMO and the ministry of external affairs are part of the Indian delegation.