Page 352 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

communiqué also expressed China’s concern about agitation by Tibetan
separatists in India and reiterated China’s position that Tibet was an integral
part of China, and that anti-China political activities by expatriate Tibetans
were not to be tolerated. Rajiv Gandhi signed bilateral agreements on science

and technology cooperation, on civil aviation to establish direct air links and
on cultural exchanges. The two sides also agreed to hold annual diplomatic

consultations between foreign ministers, and to set up a joint ministerial
committee on economic and scientific cooperation and a joint working group
on the boundary issue. The latter group was to be led by the Indian foreign

secretary and the Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs.

1990s

As the mid-1990s approached, slow but steady improvement in relations with
China was visible. Top-level dialogue continued with the December 1991
visit of the PRC Premier Li Peng to India and the May 1992 visit to China of

Indian President R Venkataraman. Six rounds of talks of the Indian-Chinese
Joint Working Group on the border issue were held between December 1988
and June 1993. Progress was also made in reducing tensions on the border via

confidence-building measures, including mutual troop reductions, regular
meetings of local military commanders, and advance notification of military

exercises. Border trade resumed in July 1992 after a hiatus of more than
thirty years, consulates reopened in Bombay (Mumbai) and Shanghai in
December 1992 and, in June 1993, the two sides agreed to open an additional
border trading post. During Sharad Pawar’s July 1992 visit to Beijing, the

first ever by an Indian minister of defence, the two defence establishments
agreed to develop academic, military, scientific and technological exchanges

and to schedule an Indian port call by a Chinese naval vessel.

Substantial movement in relations continued in 1993. The sixth-round joint
working group talks were held in June in New Delhi but resulted in only

minor developments. However, as the year progressed, the long-standing
border dispute was eased as a result of bilateral pledges to reduce troop levels
and to respect the ceasefire line along the India-China border. Prime Minister