The Hindu : India, China begin talks on Western sector

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2002

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India, China begin talks on Western sector

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI JUNE 17. India and China began talks on the clarification of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western sector of their long and contested boundary, informed sources here say.

Reflecting the positive momentum in the talks between the two countries to delineate the LAC, Indian and Chinese officials have apparently initiated the process of exchanging maps on the Western Sector in Beijing today.

India and China had already completed the exchange of maps on the Middle Sector a few months ago. The increased frequency of the meetings of the so-called Expert Group (EG) reflects the recent political understanding between the two sides to step up the pace of negotiations on delineating the LAC.

During the visit of the External Affairs Minister, Jaswant Singh, to China at the end of March, it was agreed that the EG would take up the Western Sector for clarification.

The two sides apparently hope to complete the talks on the Western Sector by the end of the year and move on to the more difficult Eastern Sector of their boundary next year.

The EG operates under the Joint Working Group headed by the Indian Foreign Secretary and a Chinese Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs. The JWG set up during the visit of the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, to China in 1988 meets annually.

The clarification of the LAC would allow both sides to implement a number of military confidence-building measures that will promote peace and tranquility on their disputed frontier.

The current efforts to delineate the LAC are without prejudice to the political positions of the two sides on the boundary dispute.

But, analysts here say the very process of clarification and confirmation of the LAC could create the political confidence to settle the vexed boundary dispute that has hobbled Sino-Indian relations for so long.

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