India, China Agree To Seek Mutually Acceptable Solution To Boundary Issue

India and China have agreed to seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question through negotiations, the government informed the Rajya Sabha Thursday.

In a written response to a question in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said China disputes the international boundary between India and China.

“Indian territory under the occupation of China in Jammu & Kashmir is approximately 38,000 sq. km. In addition, under the so-called China-Pakistan “boundary agreement” signed between China and Pakistan on 2 March 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 sq. km of Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to China,” read the statement by Muraleedharan.

The External Affairs Minister later added that India and China have each appointed a Special Representative to explore the framework for a boundary settlement from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship.

Although the relationship between India and China has been cordial, there are border disputes and an economic competition between the two countries that have at times led to strained relations.

The border disputes have previously resulted in three military conflicts — the Sino-Indian War of 1962, the Chola incident in 1967, and the 1987 Sino-Indian skirmish. In early 2017, the two countries clashed at the Doklam plateau along the disputed Sino-Bhutanese border.

Meanwhile the President of China, Xi Jinping, was one of the top world leaders to visit New Delhi after Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister of India in 2014.