India-China talks fail to progress

India disputes Chinese rule over 38,000 square km of barren, icy and uninhabited land on the Tibetan plateau, seized by China in 1962.

 

China does not recognise the remote, sparsely populated state of Arunachal Pradesh as part of India and claims its mountainous district of Tawang once belonged to Tibet.

 

Exiled Tibetans protested against  Dai’s visit to New Delhi [EPA]

The two fastest growing economies of Asia have been pushing economic ties despite their border dispute.

 

A visit by Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, to India in November focused on boosting two-way trade, expected to double to $40 bn by 2010.

 

Both sides agreed to hold the next round of talks on the border in China, said the statement, adding that the date would be decided in the future.

 

Last July, India and China reopened a section of the famed Silk Road that had been closed since 1962, to re-establish a direct trade link.

 

The 4545m high Nathu La pass, which was a major trading point between the two countries before the war, lies between India’s Sikkim and China’s Tibet.