India, China to maintain border peace for good ties

New Delhi, March 24 (IANS) India and China concluded their 18th round of border talks with both sides agreeing to take necessary steps to maintain peace and tranquility on the frontier as a pre-requisite for continued growth of bilateral relations, a statement said on Tuesday.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the special representative on the boundary talks, and his Chinese counterpart, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, held talks here on Monday to resolve issues regarding the over 4,000 km boundary.

Jiechi, who arrived here on Sunday night, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday morning.

A statement from the ministry of external affairs said that both officials and their teams held talks that were "marked by cordiality and candour and were held in a constructive and forward looking atmosphere".

The talks are the first such after the Narendra Modi government assumed office last year.

Both the special representatives "undertook a comprehensive review of earlier rounds of the talks" and "expressed satisfaction on the progress made in the negotiations and emphasised commitment to the three-step process to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of the border question at an early date", the statement said.

"The special representatives continued the discussions to reach a mutually acceptable framework for resolution of the boundary question on the basis of the agreement on the political parameters and guiding principles," it said.

The special representatives expressed satisfaction at the growing interaction between the border forces of the two countries and agreed to further expand such contacts as these constitute important confidence-building measures for maintaining peace and tranquility in the border areas, the statement said.

Both also viewed positively the development of bilateral relations following the successful visit of President Xi Jinping to India in September 2014 and "agreed to build on the momentum provided" by Xi's visit to further expand bilateral relations in areas such as railways, smart cities, vocational education, skill development, clean and renewable energy and manufacturing sector.

Both sides agreed that growing linkages between Indian states and Chinese provinces through sister-city and sister-province mechanism plays an important role in deepening bilateral ties.

The two special representatives emphasised the importance of high-level exchanges for strengthening bilateral ties, the statement said.

The two sides exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest and agreed to enhance their consultations on counter-terrorism, maritime security, climate change, reform of United Nations and civil nuclear energy cooperation.