Speaking to a group of journalists on record only for the second time since New Delhi cited Beijing as its chief security reason for going nuclear in May, Zhou Gang also accused India of making slanderous accusations which had "sabotaged the atmosphere of Sino-Indian relations, harmed developing bilateral relations between China and India and endangered the future of relations between the two countries."

He added: "The cause of and the responsibility for the current situation concerning Sino-Indian relations are known to all. It is the Chinese side that has been victimised. The Chinese side sincerely hopes that the above-mentioned abnormal situation should be reversed as early as possible."

But even though Zhou Gang's demeanour seemed relaxed and he stressed the need for "mutualaccommodation" on issues such as the resolution of the border, his remarks reflected Beijing's determination to give no quarter on subjects like Aksai Chin.

On Kashmir, he kept to the old line on resolving the issue on a bilateral basis "through consultations." He refused to answer why China had accused India of "hegemony" after New Delhi's May tests. On the other hand, he implied that China was justified in its development of nuclear weapons in 1964 because of the "specific and historical circumstances."

Asked whether Beijing would return Aksai Chin and other areas ceded to it illegally by Pakistan, the ambassador said: "Firstly, there exists no issue of China's evacuation from Aksai Chin because Aksai Chin has been China's territory since ancient times and ever since under the effective administration jurisdiction of China."

He also referred to the Sino-Pakistani 1963 Boundary Agreement ("between two sovereign states") which stipulated that after India and Pakistan had settled its Kashmir dispute,China and Pakistan would formalise the cession of territory. "(This) has no bearing on the ownership of Kashmir," the ambassador added.

Zhou Gang also spelt out what China felt was necessary on India's part to "undo the knot" in relations with Beijing. "We hope the Indian side will make responsible explanations with regard to its aforesaid remarks against China, immediately stop all such baseless accusations, and take actions on its own initiative... We have noticed the Indian side's intention to improve relations with China."