There may be differences between India and China over their border but both are committed to maintaining peace, a top Indian
official said on Friday on the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to China.
We do have areas where we have differences of perception. We do not see any change in the situation. The border is peaceful and has remained peaceful, India’s Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said at a press briefing on Singh’s visit.
Singh leaves for Beijing on Saturday on his first visit to China. Asked about recent reports of Chinese intrusions along the border with India’s eastern Arunachal Pradesh state, Menon said: There are individual areas where we think there are activities and infrastructure development. We have ways of dealing with this and it has always been successful.
Both sides have conclusively demonstrated their will to
maintain peace and tranquillity on the border, Menon said, adding that India and China have the political will to settle their
boundary disputes and they have expressed their determination to do so. He said the two countries had agreed to maintain the status quo pending settlement of the boundary question.
Singh, who is scheduled to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao and call on President Hu Jintao during his three-day visit, would be discussing the border as well as a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.