Border talks with India and Bhutan advancing, says China’s white paper on security

Talks to resolve border issue with India and Bhutan “continue to advance", a new white paper on China’s national security has said, identifying a host of internal and external threats faced by the country and its one-party political system.

The 23-page security paper released recently in Mandarin has outlined a host of threats and challenges faced by China.

China has settled boundary issues with 12 of its 14 land neighbours and the negotiations with India and Bhutan continue to advance to resolve the border disputes, said the white paper titled ‘China’s National Security in the New Era’.

Beijing has completed the demarcation of the Beibu Gulf waters between China and Vietnam, signed border defence cooperation agreements with nine neighbouring countries, established border defence talks and meetings mechanisms with 12 countries, and regularly carried out friendly visits, working talks, joint patrols, and joint cross-border crime drills, the paper said.

While China’s border disputes with India and Bhutan remain to be resolved, the country has a maritime dispute with several countries, including Japan in the East China Sea, and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan in the South China Sea.

India and China have held 23 rounds of Special Representatives-level talks to resolve the border disputes spanning 3,488 km along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

China and Bhutan held 25 rounds of talks to resolve about 400 km of the boundary issue.

India