Despite cooperation, India-China border is issue: Foreign secretary

Foreign secretary Sujatha Singh said Monday that although there are many areas of India-China cooperation, the scope of engagement on the unresolved border issue needs to be deepened.

According to a statement, she mentioned that India-China trade, around $70 billion, is expected to reach around $100 billion by 2015, despite the global downturn. There is scope in expanding media, cyber space and maritime security, she said. "Discussions at the India-China Media Forum have set in motion the beginning of an exciting and multi-pronged conversation between opinion leaders from media organisations of our two countries," said Sujatha Singh. She was speaking at an event to mark the India-China Media Forum meet.

According to the foreign secretary, it is estimated that the total number of registered media publications in both countries taken together is more than 100,000, and the total number of TV channels exceed 1,000. The scope for an exciting conversation between media organisations was thus immense.

Those using the social media from both countries taken together are in the hundreds of millions, she said, noting that cumulatively, there are a little more than a dozen news organisations from India and China with correspondents reporting on news about each other.

Noting that both nations want a stable Asia-Pacific that will allow them to sustain economic growth, she said: "Both are looking towards cooperating on maritime security as we have a common interest in freedom and security of transportation on the global commons. Both are wrestling with the new challenges posed by non-traditional threats and are pursuing new frontiers in space and cyberspace. So the scope of our international cooperation has widened."

But the difficult boundary issue remains unsolved, she said. "The boundary question, which is a particularly difficult issue, remains unresolved. Yes, we have differing perceptions on some issues. And, yes, we have potential differences on other matters," she said.

"We have set up a number of mechanisms for dialogue and communication to address these issues. There is need to widen and deepen the scope of our engagement in some areas. And yes, I can with confidence say, we are endeavouring in a mature spirit of reconciliation and pragmatism to manage issues that arise in our relationship, even as we build on the commonalities.