The Special Representatives of the two countries—National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo—held “useful and positive” discussions on the framework for the settlement of the India-China boundary question, the Indian side had said in a positive evaluation of the talks last month.

The unresolved Sino-India boundary issue has hampered the normal development of bilateral ties, with frequent reports of incursions, hurting the overall relations. For example, on Tuesday, Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police General V K Joshi said over 140 incursions had been reported along the Sino-India border stretching from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh over the past year.

India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms of Jammu and Kashmir, including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to it by Pakistan under the Sino-Pak boundary agreement in 1963. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of its territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.