BEIJING – Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee continued his push for broader bilateral cooperation with China, meeting military chief Jiang Zemin ahead of talks with President Hu Jintao.
Jiang referred to Vajpayee as an “old friend” during their meeting Tuesday at the Yuquanshan Mountain military compound and said he was pleased with moves toward closer ties, as the two nuclear neighbours continued their drive to patch-up often-frosty relations.
Jiang stepped down as Communist Party boss in November and as president in March but remains head of the military and still wields considerable power.
On Monday the Asian giants signed a landmark declaration that outlined the goals for what they hope will be a new era of harmonious relations.
Few details were released on the wording of the pact but the China Daily newspaper Tuesday said that in the declaration India for the first time recognises Tibet as Chinese territory.
China has occupied Tibet since 1951 and has been accused of trying to wipe out Tibet’s Buddhist-based culture through political and religious repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
India is home to some 100,000 Tibetans who have fled China and provides the base for the Tibetan government-in-exile, and the move to recognise Tibet as part of China could remove a significant source of tension between New Delhi and Beijing.
Both sides have appeared intent on injecting new life into ties during Vajpayee’s visit, the first by an Indian leader in a decade.
“We should be conscious of our complementary strengths, resist contradictory pulls, and deploy our resources in a mutually reinforcing manner,” Vajpayee said Monday.
“Our trust and understanding should be able to withstand forces which seek to divide us.”
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao echoed similar views, saying China did not view India’s development as a threat and China’s development should not pose a threat to India.
While the two sides have made progress on economic issues during the visit, little appears to have been achieved on the main sticking point between the world’s two most populous nations: a four-decade boundary dispute.
Indian officials would only say that the issue had been discussed between Vajpayee and the Chinese premier with “openness and frankness”.
India accuses China of occupying 38,000 square kilometres (14,670 square miles) of territory in Kashmir while Beijing lays claim to 90,000 square kilometres (34,750 square miles) of land in Arunachal Pradesh.
Fifteen rounds of talks have failed to settle the dispute.
Vajpayee also Tuesday took in the famous Forbidden City before heading to the Sino-Indian Economic Cooperation Symposium where he will deliver a speech.
He is scheduled to hold talks with Hu, parliamentary chairman Wu Bangguo and vice president Zeng Qinghong later Tuesday before leaving for the ancent city of Luoyang Wednesday.
