Beijing: India and China on Friday agreed to seek a “political” solution to the border dispute at the earliest as Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Beijing to “reconsider its approach on some issues” and announced CBMs like e-visa for Chinese tourists and operationalisation of hotline between two militaries.
Modi, who held talks with his counterpart Li Keqiang, pushed for clarifying the Line of Actual Control (LAC) without “prejudice to our position on the boundary question”, saying “a shadow of uncertainty always hangs over the sensitive areas of the border region” as “neither side knows where the LAC is in these areas”.
On the second day of his three-day visit, Modi and Li discussed a wide range of issues which also covered trade imbalance, terrorism, investment, climate change and UN reforms and coordination at international level during their 90-minute talks at the Great Hall of the People.
Modi, ignoring concerns of intelligence agencies that e-visas for Chinese tourists may open the floodgates, announced that India will provide that facility.
At a joint media interaction with Li, the Indian leader asked Beijing to “reconsider its approach on some issues that hold us back”, an apparent reference to the long-pending boundary issue matters like issuance of stapled visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh over which China lays claim.
Sources said Modi sent a clear and unambiguous message on the boundary issue, saying there was “no question of going back” and “standing still is also not an option”.
The two sides decided to increase the number of border meeting points of their military personnel from the existing four to six as they underlined that maintenance of peace and tranquility on the border was an “important guarantor” for the development and continued growth of ties.
Noting that India and China have had “complex” ties ) over the last few decades, Modi said the two nations have a “historic responsibility” to turn their ties into “a source of strength for each other and a force of good for the world.”
He underlined that the two countries need to be “sensitive to each other’s interests” and “think of creative solutions to issues that have become irritants — from visa policies to trans-border rivers”. (PTI)
