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China Holds Talks With India On Border Dispute
NEW DELHI (News Agencies) - Li Peng, the second-highest ranking Chinese leader, held talks Friday with Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh on the disputed Sino-Indian border and stressed the need to improve relations between the two Asian giants.
Singh held a 45-minute meeting with Li, the former Chinese premier and current chairman of the National People's Congress.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Singh said: "We spoke of the need to promote future good relations between India and China which are two ancient civilizations."
When asked if the border issue - the cause of a brief but bitter war in 1962 - was discussed, he replied: "Yes, that was also a part of the discussions."
India says China still holds 40,000 square kilometers (16,000 square miles) of its territory in Kashmir, while Beijing lays claim to a wide swathe of territory in Arunachal Pradesh.
An Indian foreign ministry spokesman in New Delhi said both sides agreed the thorny dispute needed to be resolved soon.
"He [Li] said that a good beginning had been made with the exchange of maps of line of actual control last year," he said of an imaginary line that delineates the two territories.
Since last year, high-level groups from China and India have decided to exchange maps of different sections of the control line.
"He [Li] said unresolved areas should not jeopardize our bilateral relationship," the spokesman said.
Li on Friday started the second day of his nine-day tour of India by visiting New Delhi's 13th century Qutab Minar tower with his wife Zhu Lin.
Before Li's motorcade reached the tourist spot, police arrested about 40 Tibetan demonstrators who had lined up at the entrance of the complex to wave black flags and denounce Beijing's Tibet policy.
The Tibetan Women's Association, which spearheaded Friday's protest, said exiled Tibetans were not protesting Li's visit, but highlighting the need for Beijing to open unconditional talks with the Dalai Lama.
Li's arrival in New Delhi Thursday was also marred by a street protest by Tibetan exiles, a group of which unsuccessfully tried to waylay Li's motorcade as it moved out from the airport.
India is home to a sizeable Tibetan population, living in exile along with their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
Li began talks with Indian politicians Thursday by saying the world's two most populous countries had to work together for global peace.
"China and India do not pose any threat to each other as they share similar views on a multi-polar world in which both can play their roles for world peace and development," Li told Indian parliamentarians.
New Delhi has consistently expressed concern over Chinese military assistance to Pakistan, saying this had worsened tensions in the subcontinent.
The speaker of the Indian parliament's upper house, Najma Heptuallah, told Li cross-border "terrorism" was a concern in the region and said all countries are equally affected by it.
Li said China was not providing nuclear assistance to Pakistan, with which Beijing has long-standing ties.
"There is traditional friendship between China and Pakistan which we are using for economic development," Li said.
The Chinese leader is scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, and address a leading Indian trade forum during his stay here.
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