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China’s concern over Tibet situation

Beijing: China on Tuesday raised its concern over the Tibet situation with the visiting Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon. A range of bilateral issues was also discussed during his meetings with State Councillor Dai Bingguo, Assistant Foreign Minister Ha Yafei and Vice-Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Mr. Menon’s is the first high-level visit of a diplomat to China from India since riots broke out in Lhasa, capital of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, last month.

The Foreign Secretary said the Chinese side appreciated India’s handling of the Olympic torch relay.

“They also brought up the larger issue of Tibet and told us how they see it,” he said, adding India’s approach to the matter was clear.

“We will neither allow anyone to break the laws of our country nor allow attacks on a friendly country from our soil.”

Asked whether Beijing was satisfied with New Delhi’s position, he said: “They [the Chinese] have already seen how it works in practice.”

Mr. Menon was referring to the Indian leg of the Olympic torch relay in which the presence of some 15,000 police personnel ensured that there were no serious disruptions.

The proposed visit of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to China in June was also discussed.

Mr. Menon said overall both sides expressed satisfaction at the “steady” development in ties and the focus of his talks was on translating the vision of strategic and cooperative partnership into practice through a series of dialogue mechanisms.

On Monday, Mr. Menon met representatives of G-8 “outreach countries” China, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa. The discussions centered around developing a coordinated approach to the annual summit of G-8 leaders Japan in July.

Climate change, in particular, featured on the agenda.

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