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By C. Raja Mohan
The External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, being greeted by the Chinese Vice-Premier, Qian Qichen, in Beijing on Friday. — AP
After a round of intensive consultations with the Chinese leadership here today, the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, declared that the accelerated schedule for the clarification of the Line of Actual Control is ``something India has not been able to achieve in the last fifty years.'' Expressing satisfaction at the successful conclusion of the exchange of maps on the middle sector of the border earlier this month, Mr. Singh today announced that the two sides would begin exchange of maps on the Western sector in June with a view to concluding the process by the end of this year. India and China also agreed to take up the clarification of the LAC in the Eastern Sector early next year. India and China will have a clear sense of the LAC alignment and an identification of where the differences remain. According to Mr. Singh after exchanging all the maps, there will be ``very little scope left for confusion'' of any kind in keeping the Sino-Indian border peaceful. Far more important, Mr. Singh claimed that the quickened pace of delineating the LAC would provide the ``answers to the need of both countries'' in arriving at a mutually acceptable settlement of the boundary dispute. Mr. Singh said the clarification of the LAC and substantive discussions on the boundary dispute need not necessarily be ``sequential'' but the former could open the doors for a resolution of the latter issue. Mr. Singh's upbeat remarks on this talks with the Chinese leadership on the clarification of the LAC do suggest that the two sides might have begun to veer around some creative ideas which could end the extended stalemate on the boundary dispute. Mr. Singh conferred with the Chinese Vice Premier, Qian Qichen, who looks after the foreign policy issues within the Politburo of the Communist Party of China, the Foreign Minister, Tang Jiaxuan, and the head of the International Liaison Department of the CPC, Dai Bingguo. Describing the talks to be ``very productive and comprehensive``, Mr. Singh said the two sides have come to some ``substantive decisions''. Addressing reporters here, Mr. Singh claimed that the ``efforts of the last four years'' to put the Sino-Indian relations has begun to succeed. Besides the apparent movement on the boundary issue, Mr. Singh announced a number of other decisions taken by the two sides today. These include the first ever official level talks between India and China to find ways to cooperate against terrorism to be held next month. The two sides, according to Mr. Singh, also agreed to schedule the visit of the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, to China by the end of the year. In an interesting move, Beijing has also decided to invite the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, to China. After his outburst against China in 1998, Mr. Fernandes has been seen in Beijing as the leading proponent of the ``China threat'' in India. An invitation to him from Beijing points to a new chapter in Sino-Indian relations. PTI reports: Mr. Singh will have a meeting with the Chinese Premier tomorrow and on Sunday travel to the booming East China metropolis, Shanghai, where he will meet the Mayor and address the Shanghai Institute of International Studies. Mr. Singh last visited China in June, 1999 at a time when bilateral ties were under strain in the wake of the Pokhran nuclear tests in May, 1998.
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