The Hindu : Accord on opening border trade through Sikkim

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 24, 2003

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Accord on opening border trade through Sikkim

By Amit Baruah

The Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee (left) with the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao (right), after signing a joint declaration, in Beijing on Monday. — AFP

BEIJING June 23. India and China have signed a memorandum on opening border trade through Sikkim with its obvious implications for Beijing recognising Sikkim as a constituent State of the Indian Union.

A separate "declaration on principles for relations and comprehensive cooperation" between the two countries was also signed between the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, this evening.

While the "full details" of the landmark agreement on "expanding border trade" and the declaration will be known only tomorrow, it is understood that India has termed the Tibetan Autonomous Region as "part of the territory" of the People's Republic of China. Later, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency, without referring to the agreement on border trade, said: "The Indian Government has for the first time recognised, in an explicit way, the Tibet Autonomous Region as part of China's territory, according to an official with the Chinese Foreign Ministry."

The draft on trade through Sikkim, reportedly received by the Indian side five days ago, was clinched only this afternoon after talks between Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Wen took place in the morning. Indian and Chinese officials are said to have worked on the draft to narrow down their differences this afternoon before it was formally signed between the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, and the Chinese Commerce Minister, Lu Fuyan.

Clearly, a "political direction" from the Prime Ministers at their talks this morning led to further discussions between the officials and produced an agreement ending the earlier "non-agreement". India, while not going along with the Chinese draft that it accept Tibet as an "inalienable" part of China, has agreed to refer to it as "part of the territory" of China.

At present, Sino-Indian border trade takes place through the Lipulekh Pass (Uttaranchal) and the Shipki La Pass (Himachal Pradesh). With the "expansion" of "border trade" through Sikkim (the Natu La Pass), it is clear that the Chinese have dropped their 1975 position that India had annexed "Sikkim". Formal recognition will, possibly, follow.

For India and China, the methodology of negotiations used today was rather unorthodox. Usually, all agreements would have been signed in the presence of the Prime Ministers in the morning. The agreements this evening were a "departure" from the agreed programme.

On the "declaration" of principles for relations and comprehensive cooperation, officials said the text under discussion had been "cleaned up" during the day and signed by the two Prime Ministers in the evening. There were some references to clarification of the Line of Actual Control in the joint declaration.

Mr. Sinha told presspersons that Mr. Vajpayee set the tone for the talks with Mr. Wen when he called for "frank discussions" as between friends. There was, Mr. Sinha claimed, no effort by either side to sweep anything under the carpet.

The Foreign Secretary, Kanwal Sibal, reported Mr. Wen as saying that it was time to phase out differences between India and China. In any case, these differences would not be allowed to come in the way of moving the bilateral relationship forward. Mr. Wen had suggested consultations on an equal footing in a friendly atmosphere to resolve differences, Mr. Sibal said.

When Mr. Wen commended him for extending the hand of friendship to Pakistan, Mr. Vajpayee mentioned Indian concerns on cross-border terrorism and the need for Pakistan to end it as quickly as possible. He also conveyed India's disappointment that this was not happening.

India and China, Mr. Sinha said, reiterated their commitment to the concept of multipolarity and agreed on the need to channelise "globalisation" in a positive direction. The two Foreign Ministers were asked to arrange more regular exchanges between India and China at all levels.

Mr. Vajpayee referred to the cooperation between the two countries in the oil sector in the Sudan and also mentioned the need for more information to tackle floods in India. While welcoming the resumption of the Kailash-Manasarovar yatra, he raised the question of additional routes for the pilgrimage.

Mr. Wen announced that China was setting aside $500 million for investment in India's infrastructure sector. Officials from the two sides would thrash out the details. Cooperation in the field of public finance was also referred to with the respective central banks and Finance Ministries being involved in the task.

The Chinese leader also suggested a "plan of action" to further economic cooperation and trade and pointed to the need for setting up a "joint body" between the two countries to achieve this goal.

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