Wish to settle boundary dispute with India: China

Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the 1962-war, China on Friday said that it "wholeheartedly" wishes to solve the border dispute with India through negotiations and maintain a friendly relationship.

"China develops in a peaceful way wholeheartedly, and hopes to maintain a friendly and cooperative relationship with India. China wishes to settle boundary issues through negotiations wholeheartedly," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

The border area has been maintained peacefully and remained stable, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Hong as saying.

The 50th anniversary of the 1962 war falls on October 20.

Both countries have held over 15 rounds of negotiations so far to resolve the border dispute.

India asserts that the dispute covered about 4,000 km, while China claims that it is confined to around 2,000 km to the area of Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as southern Tibet.

China and India both want to use friendly negotiations when resolving boundary issues, Hong said.

He said that to create a brighter future in Sino-Indian relations, the two countries needed to strengthen mutual trust.