China, India sign border cooperation pact
Print Edition
China and India signed an agreement yesterday on border defense cooperation and will continue their efforts to explore a framework for the settlement of the border dispute.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, visiting Beijing to seek a breakthrough in the territorial row that has soured relations for decades, witnessed the signing of the pact alongside Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
The two sides agreed to boost communication about border maneuvers, hold periodic meetings at designated crossing points, and have patrols refrain from any provocations. They agreed that patrols should not follow or “tail” patrols of the other side in contested areas.
The agreement will “help to maintain peace, tranquillity and stability in our border areas,” Li said following the ceremony.
The two countries will also further promote cooperation on defense exchanges and military exercises, including a counterterrorism exercise next month.
“We account for 2.5 billion people on this Earth and when India and China shake hands, the world notices,” Singh told reporters.
The frontier agreement “will add to the existing instruments to ensure peace, stability and predictability on our borders,” he added.
China and India fought a brief war in 1962 and the border between them has never been properly demarcated, although they have signed accords to maintain peace.
Li, who said his meeting with Singh injected “new vitality” into China-India relations, said the two sides also agreed to hold joint counterterrorism training in southwest China at an early date, strengthen cooperation in international and regional affairs, and work together to tackle terrorism.
Delhi and Beijing signed nine agreements in total yesterday, including separate memorandums of understanding to strengthen cooperation on trans-border rivers and transport.
One accord signed by the countries allows for a Chinese power equipment service center in India. Li said China stood ready to help India with railway construction, and Singh said the two sides are also exploring a trade corridor.
China is India’s biggest trading partner, with two-way commerce totalling US$67.83 billion in the last fiscal year, up from US$2.1 billion in 2001-02.
With growing economies and a combined population of 2.5 billion, the two neighbors have set a target of US$100 billion in bilateral trade by 2015, up from US$61.5 billion last year.
“China stands ready to work with India to strengthen cooperation on infrastructure, especially railway construction, and to push forward the establishment of a Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor,” Li said.
The proposed land corridor, dubbed a new “southern silk road,” would pass through Myanmar and Bangladesh to connect the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming with Kolkata, one of India’s largest cities.
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