Dixit: Marching ahead

New Delhi, Nov. 15: National security adviser J.N. Dixit meets Dai Bing Guo in Beijing tomorrow for the next round of special representative talks on the India-China boundary dispute.

The outcome of the meeting will determine if Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits Delhi early next year.

Dixit and Dai will be meeting for the second time tomorrow since the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government assumed power in May. The special representatives held an ice-breaking meeting in July and had preliminary talks on the boundary dispute.

The meeting that starts tomorrow will allow both sides to have more meaningful discussions and respond to each other?s suggestions.

Chen Zhili, China?s state councillor for science and technology, is in India in a clear sign that Beijing wants bilateral ties to remain upbeat. The councillor, who was in Bangalore today, will meet Indian leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, over the next four days.

Tang Jiaxuan, another state councillor and head of China?s foreign policy establishment, met Indian leaders here last month. In a signal of the growing closeness between the two countries, he expressed China?s support for India?s bid for a UN Security Council seat.

If tomorrow?s meeting goes off well, Dixit and Dai may meet once more before Wen arrives in Delhi, probably in the second half of January. However, the visit has not yet been announced officially.

Traditionally Chinese Premiers resolve problems and Beijing?s biggest dilemma with India has been over the boundary.

Sources say Wen would like to show some achievement, possibly a boundary breakthrough, on his first visit. For that to happen, the special representatives have to make some headway at their talks.

The representatives were appointed after Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first Indian Prime Minister in 10 years to visit China in June last year.

The visit was an indication that the two countries wished to rid themselves of past baggage, strengthen cooperation and forge a new relationship.

Dai had two meetings with Dixit?s predecessor Brajesh Mishra on the issue. By continuing with special representatives? meetings to tackle the boundary dispute, the UPA coalition has signalled that it wants the problem to be resolved soon. But China has not been able to assess how much the new regime in Delhi is willing to yield on the issue.