India seeking ‘final settlement’ of border row with China

INDIA: India said it was seeking a “final settlement” with China to a dragging border dispute which sparked a brief but bloody war between the two Asian neighbours 45 years ago.

“India and China are exploring the framework of a final package settlement covering all sectors of the India-China boundary,” Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament.

The statement came less than a month after officials from the two countries met for the 10th round of talks on the vexed dispute following an accord signed in April 2005, during a visit by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao to India.

Foreign minister Mukherjee said the final package will be followed by the marking of boundaries.

“This will be followed by the last stage, which will involve actual delineation and demarcation of the boundary on maps and ground by the civil, military and survey officials from the two sides,” he said in the upper house.

Mukherjee described the 2005 Sino-Indian accord as “the first stage” of the targeted final settlement between the two uneasy neighbours.

New Delhi, Friday, AFP