Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Tuesday said there was "progress" in the country's ongoing boundary negotiations with India with both governments following the political guiding principles for resolving the vexed issue.
Welcoming National Security Adviser M K Narayanan, who is also India's special representative to the 11th round of India-China boundary talks here, Wen said during the past 10 rounds, both sides have made progress.
Wen also noted that both Beijing and New Delhi have established the guiding principles and political parameters for resolving the boundary dispute.
It was during Wen's visit to India in 2005 that the two governments established the guiding principles and political parameters for resolving the boundary dispute, which has marred the development of India-China relations.
Indian Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao and other senior Indian diplomats were present at the meeting.
Narayanan, who arrived in Beijing on Monday for the in-camera talks that will last until Wednesday, held one-to-one and informal talks on Monday evening with his Chinese counterpart Dai Bingguo, who is also the executive vice foreign minister.
The latest round of boundary negotiations are taking place ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's planned visit to China later this year.
It also comes ahead of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to the Communist country at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao.
The 10th round of boundary talks were held in India in April.
"China is willing to join hands with India to find a fair and rational solution acceptable to both sides through friendly consultation in line with the political guiding principles set by the two leaders," Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said last week while commenting on the latest round of negotiations.
India and China appointed special representatives in June 2003 to address the border issue.
India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms of Jammu and Kashmir, including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to Beijing by Islamabad under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963.
On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.
The latest round of boundary talks are taking place amid a flurry of high-level bilateral contacts.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday in New York and discussed deepening relations between the two nations.
Yang expressed hope that the two countries would maintain high-level exchanges, conduct strategic, defence and security dialogues, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, properly handle border and other issues, strengthen coordination in United Nations affairs and other major international matters.
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