PEKING, Dec 22, Reuter: Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi left Peking for the ancient city of Xian on Thursday after a last minute meeting with Chinese Premier Li Peng,
Indian Officials said the two leaders agreed to form a senior level working group to discuss the Sensitive border where the two countries clashed in 1962.
Before boarding his plane, delayed more than 2 hours by fog, Gandhi watched as Indian and Chinese officials signed agreements on science and technology and civil aviation.
The two nations have agreed to form a joint committee on science and technology and start a program for exchanges of students, artists and films.
They also agreed in principle to direct air links between Peking and New Delhi.
Gandhi, making the first China visit by an Indian Leader in 34 years, said on Wednesday that the two former foes should forget past differences and look to the future.
“We have laid the foundation for peaceful and stable relations,” he said.
“I will be bringing a positive message back to India…of rebuilding a friendship.”
China and India still claim wide tracts of each other’s territory and have been unable to resolve their territorial dispute after eight rounds of talks.
Gandhi said it would take time to resolve the lingering border issue but that the two countries could work to rebuild their relations in the meantime.
During his one-day stopover in Xian, Eastern terminus of the ancient silk route that linked China to the Middle East, he will visit the famed Terracotta warriors dating back more than 22 centuries.
The warriors, unearthed in 1974, guard the tomb of emperor Qin Shihaung, renowned for unifying China but also vilified for burying scholars alive and burning Confucian textbooks.
Gandhi is scheduled to visit Shanghai before returning home on Friday.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 30, 1988
