India-China ties progressed but relations remain complex:envoy

Ties between India and China are set for a "very active" year with likely visits of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping to each other's country even as the relationship remains complex due to the unresolved boundary dispute, the Indian envoy here has said.
India's outgoing envoy Ashok K Kantha, who will be retiring on January 6, said 2016 will be marked by high level visits as Modi is expected to visit China to take part in G-20 summit to be held in east China's Hangzhou city while Xi may visit India to participate in the BRICS summit.

"2016 will be a very active year with two big visits at the highest level. China is hosting G20 summit at Hangzhou and India will host the BRICS leaders' meeting. Top leaders are expected to attend the summits," Kantha, who will be succeeded by Indian Ambassador to Germany Vijay Keshav Gokhale, told the Indian media here.
The expected high-level trips come in the backdrop of highly successful visits of Xi to India in 2014 and Modi to Beijing last year, reflecting the buoyant state of ties which have seen all round development of cooperation in the last few years including in security and defence areas besides trade and investment, Kantha said.

Last year was also marked by high levels visits. Besides Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited China while Finance Minister Arun Jaitley visited Hong Kong.
Also, Politburo-level officials of the ruling Communist Party of China visited India, Kantha said.

This year's interactions will begin with the visit National Security Advisor Ajit Doval who is expected to be in Beijing on a two-day visit starting on January 5.
He is due to meet his counterpart and China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi and Premier Li Keqiang.
Doval's visit is part of the "architecture for strategic communication" set up by both countries, Kantha said.

He also clarified that Doval's visit is not to take part in Special Representative talks on the border issue.
"He is coming for strategic consultations," Kantha said declining to provide details.
Yang and Doval are designated Special Representatives for border talks. So far the two sides have held 18 rounds of border talks.
But despite the all round progress, it still remains an uneasy relationship due to the unresolved boundary issue, Kantha said.
"For us the good news is we have been successful in
maintaining peace and tranquillity without a bullet fired in three decades and no major standoffs took place at the border last year unlike like 2013 and 2014," he said.

The two sides witnessed a major standoff ahead of Premier Li's first visit to India in 2013 soon after he took over office followed by another one during during Xi's visit last year raising tensions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region.
The issues were resolved after prolonged negotiations followed by setting up of special mechanism to address the issues relating to the patrolling of the disputed areas of the LAC.
Kantha said defence and security sectors have witnessed major improvement.
High level visits of military personnel took place this year, including the India trip of Fan Changlong, Vice Chairman of the China's highest military body Central Military Commission, and the Beijing visit of Northern Commander of the Indian Army Lt Gen D S Hooda.

The two sides succeeded in setting up a mechanism for interactions at various border points along the 3488km-long LAC besides at the highest level to address issues like the incursions which are working well, he said.
On security issues, India and China have decided to step up cooperation on counter terrorism during the recent visit of Home Minister Singh.
Both sides also decided to set up a high level ministerial mechanism.
A draft agreement on the mechanism is ready and it was expected to be signed when the Chinese delegation comprising of high level interior ministry officials visits India later this year.

The mechanism will address each other's concerns on terrorism, he said.
Asked whether China has agreed to address India's concerns relating to terrorist groups in the North East region, Kantha declined to go into details, saying that the two countries have agreed to step up cooperation including on intelligence.
"When it comes to China, our dialogue is mature enough to include matters of concerns to us," he said.
On cross border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, Kantha said China too has similar concerns specially in dealing with militancy in Xinjiang, home of Uyghur Muslims.
"We do not have to agree on everything," he said.