China, India to meet on border issues

BEIJING - Special representatives on border issues from China and India will hold talks in India's capital New Delhi from next Monday to Wednesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday.

According to Hong Lei, this will be the 17th round of talks of this kind. The talks will be co-chaired by Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Indian National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon.

"The border issues between China and India are problems left over by history," Hong said, noting that the two sides have already scored achievements in easing tensions in border areas while sharing the consensus of working together to ensure peace and security.

An early settlement of the issues conforms with both countries' common interests, and China will work with India to strive for a framework that both sides can accept, according to the spokesman.

China and India share a 2,000-km-long border that has never been formally delineated. The two countries had a border conflict in 1962.

China and India established a special representative mechanism in 2003 as an important platform for solving border disputes.