China hopes PM Narendra Modi will end long-running border dispute

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi declined an offer from Beijing in 1988 to settle the long-running border dispute once and for all with mutual adjustments along the boundary, and the hope now is Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be willing to push for a solution, a former senior Chinese official said.

With Modi and President Xi Jinping set to meet in Beijing in May, there are high expectations in Beijing that "two strongmen" can make headway - if not solve - the long-running dispute.

On Monday, Yang Wenchang, the president of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, an influential think-tank, revealed that both sides had come close to resolving the row in the 1980s, but Rajiv Gandhi declined what many analysts saw as a reasonable offer from then Chinese "Paramount leader" Deng Xiaoping.

The offer involved mutual concessions on western and eastern sectors, Yang, a former diplomat in the Chinese Foreign Ministry, revealed.

Yang said: "I personally hope the two strongmen can solve the issue. As a diplomat in late 1980s, I (witnessed) a chance to solve the problem with Prime Minister Rajiv and Deng, who was also a strong man. We do some compromise on west wing, you do some on the east wing then we can have a new border." Deng even suggested renaming the contested McMahon Line in the east as a new "India-China line", Yang said.

Yang only hinted at the outlines of the deal offered by Deng, which involved China making minor concessions in the western sector, where it is occupying at least 38,000 square km claimed by India, and India making similar minor concessions in the east, where China claims 90,000 square km.

"We offered but Prime Minister Gandhi didn't have a response. After that I felt very sad we lost the chance," Yang added.

Yang's statement that Rajiv Gandhi rejected a deal during his 1988 visit was not immediately confirmed by Indian officials, although Deng was known to have made a similar offer in the early 1980s of a deal that would see both sides more or less hold on to their respective claims.

Yang said: "A strongman can make strong decisions. I believe if two strongmen can have a strong wish to settle, that can make a good deal acceptable to everyone. China is ready and willing to have a new border."

(Courtesy: Mail Today)