From rxpgnews.com
Arunachal border meet to boost India-China trade
By Indo Asian News Service,
Nov 19, 2006 - 7:58:26 PM
Itanagar, Nov 19 (IANS) A week after the controversial Chinese claims over Arunachal Pradesh, army personnel of the two countries met at Kibithu, a traditional trade route between the tribal people here and the Tibetans until the bitter border war in 1962.
Army commanders of the two countries Saturday met at the small hamlet perched at an altitude of 11,000 feet bordering China's Tibet region, as part of confidence building measures and to boost border trade despite differences of territorial claims, an Indian Army statement said.
'This interaction between the Indian and Chinese armies is seen as a giant step forward towards contributing significantly in further cementing the bonds of mutual trust, confidence, and friendship, between the two nations,' the statement said.
The border meeting of the two armies comes at a time when China earlier this week raked up a controversy by claiming the whole of Arunachal Pradesh.
Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Yuxi told the CNN-IBN news channel last Monday: 'The whole of what you call the state of Arunachal Pradesh is Chinese territory. ... We are claiming the whole of that.'
India has strongly reacted to the Chinese claims with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee saying 'Arunachal Pradesh was an integral part of India'.
The war of words comes ahead of President Hu Jintao's four-day India visit beginning Monday.
But despite the controversy, army personnel of the two countries went ahead to host the first formal Border Personnel Meeting (BPM) at Kibithu.
'The BPM at Kibithu is an important step in the growing India-Chinese relations with historical significance. Kibithu could turn into a major international trading hub due to its natural resources and potential for trade,' the Indian army statement said.
Last week, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang, chief commissioner of customs and central excise A.S.R. Nair and several senior Indian government officials visited Kibithu to study prospects for reopening of a trade route. Beijing had in 2003 given up its territorial claim over the Indian state of Sikkim but was still holding on to its age old stand that a vast stretch of Arunachal Pradesh belongs to them.
The mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1,030 km (650-mile)-unfenced border with China.
The India-China border along Arunachal Pradesh is separated by the McMahon Line, an imaginary border that is now known as the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The two countries fought a bloody border war in 1962, with Chinese troops advancing deep into Arunachal Pradesh and inflicting heavy casualties on Indian troops.
The border dispute with China was inherited by India from British colonial rulers, who hosted a 1914 conference with the Tibetan and Chinese governments that set the border in what is now Arunachal Pradesh. China has never recognized the 1914 boundary, known as the McMahon Line, and claims 90,000 sq km (34,750 square miles) -- nearly all- of Arunachal Pradesh. India also accuses China of occupying 8,000 sq km (14,670 square miles) in Kashmir.
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