India, China revisit 2005 agreement to resolve vexed boundary dispute

India and China today harked back to a 2005 agreement signed during the Manmohan Singh era to resolve the long-pending border dispute, promising to take a political perspective on the very contentious matter.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in their capacity as Special Representatives mandated to resolve the border dispute, also agreed after their 24th round of talks here today, to set up three groups that would look for an early resolution to the issue.

The visit of PM Narendra Modi to Tianjin, China, later this month to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) was announced — the Chinese side said they welcomed his visit.

An “expert group” would “explore an early harvest in boundary delimitation in the India-China border areas”, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

A ‘working group’ to advance effective border management to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas would be set up.

A “senior-level mechanism” to improve coordination at the military level in the eastern and middle sector – Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, respectively – would be created.

Significantly, the two sides fell back on the Manmohan Singh-era document called the “Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of the India-China Boundary Question”, signed in 2005, to help them guide through the difficult questions that continue to bedevil both sides since.

In the wake of Chinese troops crossing the Line of Actual Control in the middle of Covid in April 2020, the subsequent clash in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh and an understanding at the military-cum-political level that led China to take its troops back across the LAC last year, the Indian and Chinese leaderships have agreed to look at other measures to reduce mistrust and improve confidence building.

Defining the boundary, or “delimitation”, remains a key target. As does the resumption of direct flights via an air service agreement; easing of visas for tourists, businesses, media and others; trade through land routes like Lipulekh Pass, Shipki La and Nathu La; and the resumption of hydrologiocal data on the Brahmaputra as promised by China. They also agreed that the Indian pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar would have more pilgrims from next year.

An MEA statement said the two sides accepted “the need to take a political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship, seeking a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable framework for the settlement of the boundary question”.

During his first day of talks in Delhi on Monday, Wang Yi held talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. He called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.

At the meeting with Jaishankar, both sides had positive, constructive and forward-looking discussions on bilateral, regional and international issues of common interest.

They agreed that a stable, cooperative and forward-looking relationship, of ‘mutual interest’, was essential to realise the development potential of both countries fully.

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