Masood Azhar issue may figure in India, China talks on April 20

India and China will hold next round of Special Representatives talks on April 20 during which National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is expected to raise the issue of China blocking move to get Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar designated as international terrorist.

The two-day talks in Beijing, 19th round of such parleys, will focus on boundary and strategic issues, official sources said on Sunday.

Doval, who is the Special Representative for Sino-India boundary talks, will hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi. He is also expected to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

At the 19th round of SR talks, the two sides are expected to review the status of the situation on the border and ways to maintain peace and tranquillity there, the sources said.

“We want to move forward,” a senior official said about the ties with China.

The talks are taking place in the backdrop of China blocking at the United Nations India’s move to get Jaish-e-Mohammad chief designated as international terrorist. Doval is expected to raise this issue with Yang.

Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case “did not meet the requirements” of the Security Council.

This round of SR talks was earlier scheduled to be held in January but was postponed because of the Pathankot terror attack on January 1.

The last round of talks was held in March last year after which it was reported that Doval and Yang “exchanged in depth their opinions on the boundary issue” and made “strategic communications” on bilateral ties as well as international and regional issues of common interest.

The SR talks are designed not only to address the boundary question but also to facilitate exchange of views on subjects of common interest in regional and international developments.

The two countries share a 4,057-kilometre long border on which they have differences of perception.

China says the border dispute is confined only to 2,000 km mostly in Arunachal Pradesh whereas India asserts that the dispute covered the western side of the border spanning to about 4,000 km, especially the Aksai Chin area annexed by China in 1962 war.