Jaswant to visit China in Oct.

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI, AUG. 13. The External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, is likely to travel to China in October as part of the effort to sustain the momentum of high level exchanges between the two nations and raise Beijing's profile in the Government's diplomatic calculus.

Mr. Singh's consultations in Beijing are expected to review the full range of bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest on the eve of the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr. Zhu Rongji's visit to India in November.

Mr. Zhu's visit, to be followed by a return trip to China by the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, next year, diplomatic observers here say, would create the opportunity for an intensive phase of political engagement between the two nations.

The exchange of visits at the Prime Ministerial level takes place amidst a new effort by India and China to quicken the pace of negotiations on the clarification of the line of actual control (LAC) on their long and contested border.

The talks between the two heads of government, hopefully, would give the much-needed political boost to the negotiations at the official level to delineate the LAC and implement past agreements to promote peace and tranquility on the border.

The clarification of the LAC, analysts here say, could be the critical first step towards a final resolution of the boundary dispute that has hobbled bilateral relations for more than four decades.

Beyond the preparations for the long-awaited visit by the Chinese Premier, Mr. Singh's trip to China will allow a free and frank exchange of views between the two nations on the rapidly evolving relations among the United States, Russia, China and India.

The controversial U.S. plans for missile defences and their impact on Asian security are also likely to figure in the talks between Mr. Singh and his Chinese interlocutors.

While China has sharply criticised the proposals of the Bush Administration, India has lent conditional support to the proposed ``defensive transition'' in the nuclear doctrines of the major powers. Mr. Singh's earlier visit to China in June 1999 had helped restore the political dialogue between the two nations after India's nuclear tests in May 1998 had pushed the bilateral relations into a deep chill.

Since then, many high-level political visits between the two nations have taken place.

The President Mr. K.R. Narayanan, had travelled to Beijing in May 2000 and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Mr. Tang Jiaxuan, had come to New Delhi in July 2000.

Earlier this year, India received the Chairman of the Chinese National Peoples' Congress, Mr. Li Peng, who also ranks second in the political hierarchy of the Communist Party of China.

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