Saran in China March 30-31

Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will be in China March 30-31 to participate in the 15th meeting of  the India-China Joint Working Group.

The JWG was established in 1988.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said the last JWG meeting was held in November 2002.

Sarna said the Chinese group will be led by Vice Foreign Minister Wu Danwei. The talks will take into account the global and strategic concerns of both countries.

Saran will also call on China's foreign minister to finalise preparations for the much-awaited visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to India from April 9.

India and China have been talking about their border disputes since long, but talks picked up pace when both countries appointed special representatives to take the discussions forward.

The decision to appoint special representatives was taken during the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China in June 2003.

In a fast changing world, it was felt that 14 rounds of the India-China Joint Working Group on the boundary issue were painfully slow.

The then national security adviser Brajesh Mishra had held intensive discussions with his counterpart, Senior Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.

New Delhi has for long held that China illegally claimed approximately 90,000 sq km of Indian territory in the eastern sector of the Sino-India boundary in Arunachal Pradesh.

India also claims that China illegally occupies about 38,000 sq km of territory in Jammu and Kashmir and that under the Sino-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963, Pakistan 'illegally ceded' 5,180 sq km of Indian territory in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir to China.

According to a Delhi daily, India and China are expected to sign an agreement on the contentious border issue when Wen visits India in April.

According to the daily, China may give up its claim on the Twang tract, while India may give up its claim on a major part of Aksai Chin.

Sarna said India attaches great importance to Wen's visit but refused to comment on the possible outcome of  border talks. He said, " It will be incorrect on my part to foretell."

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