With the top political leadership in both countries agreeing that “greater vigour” and “innovativeness” is needed to accelerate the progress in the India-China boundary talks, Special Representatives from both countries started the ninth round of talks hoping to make substantial progress in this spirit.

The focus of the talks, sources said, will be the Chinese claim over Tawang and 90,000 km in Arunachal Pradesh. India pointed out to China in the previous round that one of the political parameters agreed between both sides during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to India in April 2005 was “safeguarding the interests of the settled population”. Arunachal Pradesh, including Tawang, is a fit case to ensure that this population is not disturbed.

However, China has not accepted the merit of the argument indicating that Arunachal Pradesh is one of the most sparsely populated states of India, particularly areas like Asaphila and Kinzemane which are part of the Chinese claim. This, sources said, has been one of the key areas of disagreement between the Special Representatives — National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo — who have deliberated twice already on how to work out a package solution for a final settlement of the vexed boundary dispute. India had hoped to obtain a shift in Beijing’s position on Tawang ahead of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit in November. In fact, New Delhi proposed to hold a round of talks between the SRs just ahead of the visit. But China declined the offer by not responding to the dates. Instead, considerable political heat was generated over the issue by Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Yuxi, who chose to reassert Beijing’s claims over Arunachal Pradesh in public.

... contd.