India and China to begin high-level meetings ahead of Chinese PM visit

A series of high-level meetings, starting from external affairs minister S M Krishna's bilateral with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi, will take place between India and China ahead of Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to New Delhi in the mid of next month.

India's concerns over the presence of Chinese troops in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), the issue of stapled visas to residents of Jammu and Kashmir, among other issues are expected to dominate the agenda of these high-level bilaterals, which are going to set the tone for the meeting between the Premiers of the two countries during Wen's India visit, officials said.

Krishna, who is arriving in China tomorrow for the meeting of the foreign ministers of the three-nation Russia, India and China (RIC) grouping, will also hold a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart here.

Krishna is expected to take up a number of issues, including US President Barack Obama's endorsement of India's bid for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, which has left only China, among the veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, to make its stand clear.

The other four — US, Russia, UK and France — have already conveyed their consent for India's bid.

India's concerns over reports of the presence of troops in PoK are also expected to figure in the talks in the run-up to Wen's visit, Indian officials here told Press Trust of India.

India has already conveyed its concerns to China following reports in the US media about a large presence of Chinese troops in the region.

China subsequently informed Indian Ambassador S Jaishankar that Chinese personnel were present in Gilgit and Baltistan only to carry out relief activities for flood affected victims.

But Indian officials said India's concerns in this regard persisted, especially over personnel building projects in PoK as it is a disputed area.

Also relating to Kashmir is the contentious stapled visa policy of China for residents of Jammu and Kashmir.

India had put on hold defence exchanges with China following denial of visa to General Lt Gen B S Jaswal on the ground that he headed troops in Jammu and Kashmir which China regards as a disputed area.

Krishna's talks with Yang will be followed by the annual strategic dialogue with the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing on November 16, for which foreign secretary Nirupama Rao is accompanying the external affairs minister.

Rao would hold talks with Chinese vice foreign minister Zhang Zhijun and also call on Yang for another round of talks.

Her visit would be followed by the visit of National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon who would hold the 14th round of border talks with Chinese special representative state councilor Dai Binggu on November 29 here. 

The meetings are expected to prepare adequate ground work for Wen, who Indian officials hope, would address the concerns that emerged as major road blocks for development of Sino-India ties.

Hopes of a movement towards resolution of the issues were raised after the recent meeting in Hanoi between Wen and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on sidelines of the East Asia Summit during which the Chinese Premier announced his visit to India before which the two sides should address the mutual concerns.

The issues being flagged by India include more trade access to Indian goods and services to address the skewed trade balance.

India wants access for IT, pharmaceuticals, agro products and engineering goods and has conducted several awareness campaigns all over China during the past few months to scout for business.