We need to resolve boundary issue with China: Nirupama Rao

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) The recent tension between India and China "intensifies the need" for the two sides "to sit down and resolve" the border issue, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said. "In fact, the focus that has been given to both the incursions and also to the Arunachal Pradesh issue, I think only intensifies the need for the two sides to really sit down to resolve these issues with even more seriousness and determination," Rao said in an interview broadcast on All India Radio Thursday night. India's top diplomat, who was the envoy in Beijing before taking up her present assignment, added that both governments understood that "a peaceful relationship between India and China is not only good for the two countries but it is good for this region, it is good globally also". In recent weeks, the relations between the two Asian giants have been strained. It started with reports in the Indian media reports on alleged incursions by Chinese troops on the disputed Himalayan border. This led to combative reports in the media of both countries. This week, China's protest to the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Arunachal Pradesh, a northeastern province over which the Beijing claims ownership, led to strong reactions from India. The Indian foreign office reiterated that Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of India. India also lodged a protest over reports of China helping in projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. On Thursday, India said that it would check if China is building a massive dam on Brahmaputra river in Tibet, which would adversely affect the downstream population here. "But whatever it is, we must take a realistic view that there are differences, there are differences when it comes to perceiving the line of actual control in the border areas. And there are differences also in terms of conflicting territorial claims," Rao said, adding that it was "one of the most complicated boundary questions that exist anywhere in the world". India says China is in illegal occupation of about 38,000 sq km of Jammu and Kashmir, in addition to the territory ceded by Pakistan. China claims 90,000 sq km of Indian territory along the Arunachal Pradesh border. The foreign secretary admitted "there was still a lot of ground that we have to cover in terms of narrowing differences and building more understanding", but felt that progress was being made, "albeit slowly but it is being made surely". She said the special representatives deputed to discuss the border issue had held 13 meetings so far. Asserting that dialogue was the only way out, she quoted India's first prime minister, saying, "I remember our first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, speaking to parliament in 1962 saying 'we cannot march to Peking' and I am quoting his words". On a question on Dalai Lama's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, she added that India regarded him as a spiritual figure who does not indulge in political activities on Indian soil. "He is a religious figure and he does not indulge in political activities on Indian soil and he is our guest in India and he is free to visit any part of our country," Rao said. Indian PM likely to meet Chinese premier in Bangkok  New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) With China expressing interest, there is a likelihood of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Bangkok this month, official sources said Friday. India and China are perceived to have had a strained few weeks, with the governments issuing statements and demarches to each other on points of contention, mainly on disputed territory. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, who led India's delegation to the heads of government meeting of the Shangai Cooperation Organisation in Beijing earlier this week, said that he was informed by Premier Wen Jiabao about his interest in meeting with Manmohan Singh. "He asked if the prime minister will be going to Thailand next week, to which I replied yes. Twice he said he is looking forward to meeting Manmohan Singh," Deora told reporters here Friday. Singh will be travelling to Thailand to attend the ASEAN summit on Oct 24. Official sources said there was a good possibility of a meeting between Singh and Wen taking place on the sidelines of the summit, as has happened at various other multilateral fora. It would mark an intensification of contacts in the coming weeks, with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi arriving in India this month to participate in a trilateral meeting with his Indian and Russian counterparts. The Chinese minister will arrive Oct 26 for the meeting to be held the next day, said an official spokesperson. The trilateral meeting is to discuss issues of regional importance and "touch upon various issues of mutual concern and mutual interest in the bilateral relationship", Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said in an interview to All India Radio. In November, Zhou Yongkang, a senior member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, will be visiting India, China's envoy Zhang Yan told the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Friday. The BJP quoted the ambassador as telling Rajnath Singh that this would be "the most important visit of any Chinese leader after President Hu Jintao (who came) to India in 2006". Zhang called on the BJP president days after the main opposition party urged the Indian government to take a hardline stand vis-a-vis Beijing in the wake of tensions between the two countries. Northeast frets, but India can do little on China's Brahmaputra dam New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) While concerned officials of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have asked for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention, India may not be able to make much noise over China's hydro project on the Brahamaputra in Tibet, said officials. Sources said Friday that it was India's assessment that the Zangmu hydropower project would be a "run of the river" hydro project, which will not violate any international laws. On Thursday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said, in response to a media report, that India will be trying "to ascertain whether there are recent developments that suggest any change in the position conveyed to us by the government of China". The spokesperson said at earlier meetings of India-China experts on trans-border river issues "the Chinese side has categorically denied that there is a plan to build any such large-scale diversion project on the Brahmaputra river". According to the sources, India will be inquiring about the Zangmu project at the next bilateral meeting of water experts. China's reported plans to build a dam across the Brahmaputra river and divert water to its arid provinces have been opposed by the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh governments. "Large-scale diversion of water would adversely hit the state's economy and could even lead to environmental problems and affect the surface water table in the (Indian) northeast," Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said Friday. The 2,906-km long Brahmaputra is one of Asia's largest rivers that flows the first stretch of 1,625 km in Tibet region, the next 918 km in India and the remaining 363 km through Bangladesh before converging into the Bay of Bengal. "We are going to seek the prime minister's intervention to ensure that China does not construct the dam. It would have devastating impact on Assam," the chief minister said. "It would be a gross violation of international protocol if China arbitrarily constructs the dam," Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh Takam Sanjay said. Experts feel that a dam on the Brahmaputra would have a cascading impact in the northeast and even in Bangladesh. "We are worried as many areas in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and even Bangladesh would go dry if the Chinese went ahead with their plans. This move would severely affect water flow to the region which in turn would adversely affect agriculture," said Sapna Devi, a geologist. According to media reports, China was planning to divert 200 billion cubic metres of water to feed the Yellow River in an attempt at easing acute water shortage in Shaanxi, Hebel, Beijing and Tianjin. The Brahmaputra is the lifeline for a vast majority of the people in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Bangladesh. Most of them depend on the river to irrigate their fields, fishing and transportation of goods. Agriculture forms the backbone of the economies in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with nearly 80 percent of the 28 million people in the two states eking out a living through farming. There has been no official reaction from Beijing to India's concern about damming the Brahmaputra.