China ready to hold fresh round of border talks with India

BEIJING -- China welcomes India's newly-appointed special representative on border talks with China, Ajit Doval, and expects a new round of border talks with India soon, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Doval, a national security advisor, was appointed to the role by the Indian government on Monday.

"We are willing to hold a new round of special representatives' talks on border issues at an appropriate time, and push forward the settlement of the problem based on the principles and consensus reached by both sides in previous talks," said spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

Currently, the talks between both countries' special representatives have entered a crucial stage, with an initial agreement reached, Hua told a routine press briefing.

"To settle the border problem between China and India at an early date meets both countries' common interests and the strategic target agreed by both state leaders," she said.

China vows joint efforts with India to push forward border negotiation, in a bid to seek a solution that is fair, reasonable and acceptable to both sides, she added.

China and India share a 2,000-km-long border that has not been formally delineated. The two countries had a border conflict in 1962.

The two countries established special representative meetings in 2003 as an important platform for resolving border disputes.

So far, the two sides have held 17 rounds of talks between their special representatives on the border issue.