'Chinese know their claim on Arunachal is untenable'

The Sino-Indian border dispute will take a long time to be settled, according to a former Indian envoy.

Giving a presentation to journalists from SAARC nation, invited by the Ministry of External Affairs for a four-day workshop, former Indian envoy to China Harsh Bhasin divided the last 60 years of India's relationship with China into categories -- one before the 1962 war and the other during the aggression.

According to him, the defeat of India at the hands of the Chinese was one of the factors leading to the death of Pandit Nehru. He put his thoughts under title 'Aksai Betryal.'

On the Arunachal issue, Bhasin said, "China knows Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and keeps on raising the issue. They know their claim is not tenable. The Chinese are looking for some kind of passage linking their border provinces, which can cause trouble."

According to him China, United States and India will emerge as the global power economically.

Talking about India's claim to permanent seat in UN and Chinese unwillingness to back it despite the fact that India backed Chinese claim decades ago, the former envoy said China will never back India as it will negate its influence in the region.