India and China failed to reach any specific agreements on their disputed boundary issue on Friday in the latest round of negotiations in Beijing but decided to pursue their goal for a "fair and reasonable" solution acceptable to both sides.
'Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo and Indian National Security Adviser M K Narayanan headed their delegations for the talks, which were pragmatic, candid and friendly,' a bland statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said .
After a year-long hiatus, the two sides concluded two days of in-camera talks on Friday without reaching any specific agreements. The next round of will be held in India.
The 12th round of boundary talks were held amid some tension in bilateral ties in the wake of attempts by China to block a consensus on the India-specific waiver at the NSG meet in Vienna earlier this month.
The brief statement said Dai and Narayanan exchanged in-depth views on a framework to solve the boundary issue.
'They agreed that both countries would carry out the guidelines of their leaders, maintain negotiations and seek a fair and reasonable solution acceptable to both sides," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.'
The statement did not indicate whether any progress had been made during the latest round of negotiations.
It is not clear if the two sides discussed the status of Tawang, nestled among the mountains in Arunachal Pradesh which has long been a serious bone of contention.
Narayanan had earlier said that the lingering dispute over the Buddhist enclave of Tawang was preventing efforts by the two countries to "cross the rubicon."
"Till that (the issue of Tawang) is settled whatever else we may do, it is difficult to say we have crossed the rubicon," Narayanan had said in an interview to Straits Times of Singapore last month. He said "when they (the Chinese) talk in terms of movement forward, they keep arguing Tawang has always been a part of Tibet, which is a matter of debate."
The next round of discussions will take place in India, the statement added.
During a meeting with Narayanan in Beijing on Friday, China had indicated that the two countries should maintain peace along their disputed border till a solution is found to the vexed issue.
"Both should maintain peace and tranquility in the border area before the boundary issue is resolved," Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping told Narayanan.
Narayanan said India also hoped to realise the consensus by the leaders of the two countries to settle the vexed boundary issue at an early date.
Xi hoped the framework for the resolution of the boundary issue will be "fair and reasonable" and worked out through equal consultation and friendly dialogue and accepted by both the countries.
India says China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq kms of Jammu and Kashmir including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to Beijing by Islamabad under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh.
