India, China to set up a mechanism on border management

New Delhi, Jan 17 (PTI) India and China today agreed to set up a working mechanism on border management to deal with matters related to maintaining peace and tranquillity in the frontier areas. The mechanism, mooted by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, was finalised at the conclusion of the 15th meeting of the Special Representatives (SR) on the boundary question between India's National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and China's State Councillor Dai Bingguo here. The agreement to establish the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs was signed by India's Ambassador to China S Jaishankar and China's Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin. The working mechanism will undertake mutually agreed tasks but will not discuss resolution of the boundary question or affect the SR process. It will be headed by a joint secretary-level officer from India's Ministry of External Affairs and a Director General-level officer from the Chinese Foreign Ministry and will comprise diplomatic and military officials of the two sides. "The Working Mechanism will address issues and situations that may arise in the border areas that affect the maintenance of peace and tranquillity and will work actively towards maintaining the friendly atmosphere between the two countries," according to the text of the agreement released by the External Affairs Ministry. It will study ways and means to conduct and strengthen exchanges and cooperation between military personnel and establishments of the two sides in the border areas. It will also explore the possibility of cooperation in the border areas that are agreed upon by the two sides. During the two-day talks, the Special Representatives also agreed to prepare a joint record on the progress made so far in the talks between them on the boundary question. The SR mechanism was set up in 2003 following the visit of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to China with Dai and the then Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra as the SRs. "Making a positive appraisal of the current state of bilateral relations, the SRs noted the importance of regular high-level exchanges and strengthened cooperation across different areas between the two countries," a External Affairs Ministry statement said here. Yesterday, Dai had said China and India have "scaled much height" and "produced some results" on the framework of settlement of the boundary question. "In the China-India boundary negotiations, although we have not yet arrived at the summit -- that is we have not reached full agreement on the framework of settlement of the boundary question -- but we have scaled much height and made much progress," Dai said. "I think we can tell the people of both countries that we had not been lazy in this exercise and we have produced some results for our work," he had said. The meeting of SRs was to have been held in November last year but had to be postponed after China protested Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's participation in a Buddhist religious congregation in the Indian capital around the time of the talks. India had then rejected China's demand for cancellation of the function leading to the postponement of the talks. PTI Caption for pic: India's National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon (2nd R) and Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo (2nd L) shake hands with signatories Liu Zhenmin, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China, and Indian Ambassador to China S Jaishankar (R) after signing of an agreement following the concluding session of the 15th Round of India-China Special Representatives Talks in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI Photo