China and India opened their eighth round of talks aimed at resolving a decades-old border dispute that led to a brief war more than 40 years ago, the Indian embassy said.

Indian National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan (right) with China's executive vice-foreign minister Dai Bingguo in New Delhi in 2005. China and India opened their eighth round of talks aimed at resolving a decades-old border dispute that led to a brief war more than 40 years ago. [AFP]

India's National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Dai Bingguo, China's executive vice foreign minister, are meeting over two days in Beijing on the dispute which led to the conflict in 1962, an embassy official said on Monday.

Narayanan is scheduled to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Monday evening, according to the Press Trust of India.

The new round of negotiations came just one week after Chinese and Indian officials signed an historic agreement to resume border trade next month through the 4,400-meter-high (14,520-feet) Nathu La pass.

The Himalayan pass, which was a part of the famed Silk Road, was closed after the war.

Wen said during a visit to India last year that resolving the border dispute was a top priority, after Narayanan and Dai signed an agreement setting the "guiding principles" for a pact.

This round of talks in Beijing would focus on resolving issues according to the parameters set during Wen's visit, PTI quoted official sources as saying.

India says China occupies 38,000 square kilometres (15,200 square miles) of Indian territory in Kashmir while Beijing claims 90,000 square kilometres of the remote Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

This month, Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the border talks were "moving forward".

Narayanan and Dai, who were appointed special representatives in June 2003 on the issue, held the previous round of talks in India in March.

Narayanan said then that the discussions were moving in the right direction but it would take more sessions to resolve the issue.