India FM to visit China amid border spat
India's foreign minister yesterday announced plans to visit China amid a border dispute, saying both countries had a mutual interest in not allowing it to "destroy" long-term progress in ties.
Amid growing calls in some quarters for a tougher line over the alleged incursion of Chinese troops in a remote Himalayan region, Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid said he would head to the capital Beijing on May 9.
"I believe we have a mutual interest and we should not destroy years of contribution we have put together," Khurshid told reporters on the sidelines of a business event in New Delhi.
"I think it is a good thing that we are having a dialogue."
While not directly linking his visit to the border dispute, Khurshid will be the most senior Indian official to visit Beijing since its new leadership took over at the turn of the year.
A senior foreign ministry official also confirmed reports that the new Chinese Premier Li Keqiang would travel to New Delhi India late next month, without giving an exact date.
Lower-level talks have so far failed to break the impasse in the dispute in the western part of the mountainous Ladakh region, which erupted last week.
According to officials in New Delhi, a platoon of Chinese troops set up a camp inside Indian territory on April 15.
India has since called on the Chinese soldiers to withdraw, but several meetings between local army commanders and diplomats from both sides have failed to resolve the stand-off.
China has denied any wrongdoing, a stance reiterated by the foreign ministry in Beijing yesterday.
The Times of India suggested the alleged incursion could be intended to pressure Delhi into signing a new border cooperation agreement or be in retaliation for efforts to strengthen the Indian army at the frontier.
Small incursions are not uncommon across the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border that runs nearly 3,000 miles across the Himalayas, but it is rare for either country to set up camps on disputed territory.
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