Border issue will be resolved through equitable solution:China

Ahead of President Xi Jinping's first visit to India next week, China today said the two countries have the "confidence and capability" to resolve the border dispute through an "equitable and reasonable" solution based on dialogue and consultation. "As for the border issue we are all committed to tranquillity and peace at the border. We will strive for an equitable and reasonable solution based on negotiation and consultation. We have confidence and capability for that," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told media here.

She was asked about India's plans to beef up infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control due to concerns over well laid out infrastructure developed by China in Tibet region. "The two sides have a consensus on maintaining good bilateral relations," she said, avoiding a direct response to the border infrastructure development on the Indian side of the LAC. Xi on Thursday left for Dushanbe on a four-nation visit during which he would visit Tajikistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and India in the next nine days.

He is expected to arrive in India on September 17 on a three-day visit during which a host of issues, including the border dispute as well as China's plans to commit major investments in India especially in the designated industrial parks, would be taken up. Hua recalled National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval's meeting with Xi here on September 9 during which he said Indian government and people are looking forward to the visit.

During his talks with Xi besides other top officials, Doval firmed up the schedule and agenda for the Chinese President's visit. Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, who held talks with Doval, said Xi's visit will be a milestone in India-China bilateral ties as it would lay foundation for the next ten years of development of the relations. In a commentary on Xi's visit to New Delhi, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said being the two largest developing countries in the world, as well as the world's major emerging economies, India and China have great cooperation potential.

During the visit, Xi and Indian leaders will plan the development of China-India relations and identify priority areas and directions of bilateral cooperation. The Chinese president will deliver a speech in New Delhi to expound on China-India relations and China's South Asia policy, it said. India asserts that the border dispute covered nearly 4,057-km long Line of Actual Control, while China claims that it is confined to about 2,000 kms to the area of Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as Southern Tibet.