Thaindian News

Bangalore, Oct 26 (IANS) India and China are in the process of “narrowing” mutual differences and the talks slated here Tuesday between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi are aimed towards that, a senior official said Monday.
“Krishna and Yang will hold bilateral talks Tuesday evening on all issues, including differences that persist between the two countries, in an atmosphere of mutual trust and on equal terms,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters here.

Yang will be accompanied by Chinese ambassador Zhang Yang during the talks to be held after the ninth trilateral meeting between the two Asian neighbours and Russia earlier in the day.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and joint secretary (East Asia, China, Japan affairs) Vinay Gokhale will assist Krishna in the talks.

“Over the years, the convergences (between India and China) have grown and divergences have got narrowed. The talks are an attempt in that direction. There are no relationships in the world where there are no differences. We have differences. But both sides have the maturity, the mechanism and the framework to address those differences. We are in the process of narrowing them,” Prakash pointed out.

The bilateral meeting between the two foreign ministers comes after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met on the margins of the Indo-ASEAN summit at Hua Hin in Thailand Oct 24, where the two leaders decided to resolve all differences amicably.

The unresolved border dispute, the on-and-off Chinese intrusions into Indian territories, China’s objection to Singh’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh early this month and to the upcoming visit of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to the border state Nov 8 are expected to figure prominently in the talks between Krishna and Yang.

“China has become our largest trading partner. Trade between the two countries shot up to $51.8 billion in 2008 from a mere $1.8 billion in 2000. The bilateral investment protection agreement has been signed. We have a trade target of $60 billion by 2010 and we are looking at taking this forward,” Prakash said.

On the contentious issues between the countries, the spokesman said both enjoy cooperative and strategic partnership and there was a broad consensus across the political spectrum in both countries to take the process forward to consolidate that process.

As Singh and Wen have agreed to build better understanding and trust at the political level, Prakash said the bilateral talks would focus on robust relations and not allow differences to be an impediment.

“The agreement in 1993 on maintaining peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) is being adhered to,” Prakash reiterated.