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September 19, 2014

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Source: Agencies | September 19, 2014, Friday | Print Edition

CHINA is determined to bridge differences over its shared border with India, President Xi Jinping said yesterday, adding that both sides were capable of dealing with fallout from security incidents on the disputed frontier.

“China has the determination to work with India through friendly consultation to settle the boundary question at an early date,” Xi said after summit talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

“We also have the sincerity to work with India to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas before we are finally able to settle the boundary question,” Xi said.

Modi said he had expressed concerns to Xi about “incidents” on the disputed border, where reports said hundreds of troops were facing off.

“Peace and tranquility in the border region constitutes an essential foundation for mutual trust and confidence for realizing the full potential of our relationship,” he told a news briefing, with Xi by his side.

The two countries have long been embroiled in a bitter dispute over their border, with both sides accusing soldiers of crossing over into the other’s territory.

Xi, the first Chinese president to visit India in eight years, said China was committed to working with New Delhi to maintain “peace and tranquility” until the border issue could be settled.

Raising hopes for a new push to resolve their territorial differences, Modi called for an early border settlement with China.

The two sides have held 17 rounds of border talks since the early 1990s without making significant progress. Modi has yet to appoint a special envoy to restart the talks.

“We have to address the boundary question very soon,” Modi said, urging “clarification” of the Line of Actual Control — the front line where fighting ended.

Modi rolled out the red carpet for Xi, hosting a private dinner in a luxury riverside tent in his home city of Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

India’s newly elected leader is eager to secure Chinese funding to fulfil his election pledge to overhaul his country’s crumbling infrastructure, which has held back economic growth in the country of 1.2 billion people.

Xi arrived in India from the Maldives and Sri Lanka, where he announced large-scale investment and sought to boost regional ties.

He pledged yesterday greater investment from China, already India’s biggest trading partner.

He said China, which built the world’s largest high-speed rail system from scratch in less than a decade, would look to develop faster train lines in India.

“When our two countries work with each other for common development, we can bring benefits to the 2.5 billion people in China and India,” Xi said.

The two sides also clinched several agreements. They decided to begin discussions on civil nuclear energy and signed a five-year economic and trade development plan. They also agreed to set up two Chinese industrial parks in India, and China promised to invest US$20 billion in Indian infrastructure over the next five years.

“We can bring prosperity to Asia, and we can create opportunities for the world,” Xi said of the growing relationship between the two countries.

China also agreed to allow the opening of a new, more accessible route to Kailash Mansarovar, a Hindu pilgrimage site located in the high Himalayas.

The two leaders also discussed a China-led proposal to develop an economic corridor linking Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar.

The Chines president also said China would support India becoming a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

China’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement released in Beijing that China welcomed both India and Pakistan joining the regional security body. Their inclusion would boost the group’s ability to maintain regional security, it said.

Modi reiterated that India will not allow Tibetans to conduct anti-China political activities in his country, reaffirming that Tibet is a part of Chinese territory.

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