India and China today heldextensive parleys on maintenance of peace and tranquility along the Line ofActual Control (LAC) and respective maps of the 600 km 'middle sector' boundaryalong Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal.
The parleys come amid signals that both sides are keen to quicken the pace ofnegotiations to resolve the long-standing boundary dispute.
The two sides held further discussions on the process of clarifying the LACthat began at the previous meeting in Beijing in November last year.
Specialists from the Chinese foreign office and Defence Ministry conferredwith their Indian counterparts on a range of related issues at the 9th meetingof the India-China Expert Group of Diplomatic and Military Officials.
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While the Indian side was led by Vijay Gokhale, Director (East Asia) in theExternal Affairs Ministry, the Chinese delegation was headed by Sun Guo Xiang,Deputy Director for Asia Department in the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
The group was established after the two countries signed an agreement onmaintenance of peace along the LAC during the visit of then Prime Minister P VNarasimha Rao to China in September 1993.
At the last round in Beijing, the two sides had taken an important stepforward when, for the first time, they exchanged maps on the LAC as perceived bythem regarding the middle sector.
The exchange of maps, the first time since the Sino-India war in 1962, hadfollowed a letter from External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh to his Chinesecounterpart proposing that the process of clarification of the LAC be expedited.
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Both New Delhi and Beijing had reached an understanding on this score duringthe visit of senior Chinese leader Li Peng to India in January this year. (PTI)
