New Delhi: India and China began the18th round of talks on Monday to resolve the contentious boundary issue after which the Chinese official media said the two sides have agreed to "properly handle and control" their disputes before the boundary issue is solved.
The Special Representatives talks for boundary issue, the first such meeting after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May last year, was co-chaired by Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Though there was no official statement or reaction from India on the talks, which will continue tomorrow, Chinese news agency Xinhua reported, "The two sides agreed to jointly safeguard peace and tranquillity in their border regions before the resolution of the vexed issue."
Reviewing the progress achieved over the past years at the SR talks, they emphasised that the two sides should continue to move forward the process of framework talks in a correct direction on the basis of the existing achievements and consensus, while taking into consideration the overall bilateral relations and long-term interests of the two peoples, it said.
It further said the two sides will make common efforts to implement the important consensus reached by their leaders, maintain the momentum of high-level exchange of visits, and enhance the development of China-India strategic cooperation partnership.
"The two sides also agreed to work together to promote pragmatic cooperation in all fields, strengthen coordination and provide mutual support in international and regional affairs and build closer relations of development partnership in order to contribute to global peace and development," it said.
Significantly, CCTV, another Chinese government-run media, said there has been some sort of resolution but there could be a concrete announcement during Modi's visit to China in May on what these talks lead to.
