China, India making progress on border standoff

Beihing, May 6 – China and India have made positive progress since the two countries had a stand-off incident concerning border areas, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said here on Monday.

Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing that since the occurrence of the incident in the western section of the China-India borders, both sides have moved forward and adopted a constructive and cooperative attitude, and remained restrained.

She said the two sides have so far maintained close communication and consultations on the issue through border-related mechanisms, diplomatic channels and border defense meetings.

"So far as I know, relevant departments of the two countries have made positive progress in their friendly consultations," Hua said.

"I believe that both sides have the will and capability to properly resolve this incident as soon as possible and jointly maintain the healthy and stable growth of China-India relations," she said.

Hua said maintaining peace in the border areas conform with the common interests of the two countries. She said China is ready to work with India to reach a "fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable resolution of border issues" at the earliest possible date.

(Xinhua)