Ahead of the 21st round of India-China boundary talks, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav said today that a dispute over a "large segment" of the border with China has been resolved, barring the Western sector, and the negotiations were moving in the positive direction.
India and China have so far held 20 rounds of Special Representative-level talks to resolve the dispute over the 3,488-km long Line of Actual Control. The next round of talks are due to be held between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the coming weeks.
"The talks are moving in the positive direction," BJP General Secretary Madhav, who is currently visiting China, told the Indian media here.
"It is not true. Most of the time those who are engaged in talks don't disclose day-to-day progress. They want to achieve certain milestone then only they will disclose," he added, refuting the perception that the border talks have not made much headway.
"As far as I know, issues with large segments of our border have been resolved. There are few areas where negotiations are still going on," he said.
Asked whether the understanding he referred to also applied to section of Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as part of South Tibet, Madhav said, "I cannot say anything on those things. But mostly the Western sector is where major issue are there. Some areas are yet to be delimited. That I think will continue in 21st round. It is inherited problem for us."
On the first informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan, he said, "the Wuhan spirit is a new phrase between the two countries. Not formal but strongly informal relationship between the two countries. Both the countries should continue the spirit."
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