In 2003 India and China appointed Special Representatives to find a political solution to the unresolved boundary issue. A new political will on both sides to break the existing stalemate was implied. The initiative presupposed abandoning entrenched positions and approaching the issue with a new spirit of compromise. Six years have elapsed, but the breakthrough is still awaited.
In 2005, during Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's India visit, the political parameters and guidelines for settling the boundary issue were agreed. Four years of labour since then has produced no visible result. Both sides had agreed that these sensitive negotiations would be conducted without media scrutiny. So, although the periodic meetings are announced and media is stirred up, the negotiators have adhered to the discipline of silence about the outcome of these parleys.
Unlike in the case of Pakistan where the backchannel has operated in total discretion, without any information surfacing about the location and periodicity of meetings, the talks with China are exposed to public attention, but progress is subject to "omerta".
A "political" solution to the boundary issue has to ride on decisive improvement in the political ties between India and China. If in the last six years no such amelioration has occurred, then to expect the boundary resolution track to move faster or even independently of such progress would be wishful thinking.
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