BEIJING -- China and India signed a landmark agreement Tuesday to reduce tensions and troops along their long Himalayan border and quicken the pace of discussions on the disputed line of demarcation.
Visiting Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao and Premier Li Peng signed the breakthrough agreement and three other cultural and economic agreements at the end of more than two hours of morning talks at west Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
The two Asian giants, which together account for 40 percent of the world's population, refrained from broaching contentious issues such as the status of exiled Tibetan god-king the Dalai Lama and Chinese exports of missile technology to India's rival, Pakistan.
But the 'Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquility along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China Border Areas' is seen by diplomats as a first step to ease decades of mistrust.
The pact's 'confidence-building measures' include a mutual vow against the use of force in the region, a commitment to solve boundary disputes through consultations, and a gradual reduction of troop deployments in parts of the remote but hotly disputed Tibet border region.
'India and China have agreed to keep their military forces in areas along the Line of Control in conformity with the principle of 'mutual and equal security,'' said the document.
Troop reduction levels and the actual line of control in the isolated, mountainous region will be worked out by 'diplomatic and military experts,' the document said.
'The extent, depth, timing and nature of reductions will be worked out through mutual consultations,' it says.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wu Jianmin told a news conference that implementation of the agreement will help alleviate tension in the border areas and strengthen economic ties that produced only $340 million in bilateral trade last year.
'The two prime ministers believe that it is of great importance to sign the agreement and the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the China-India border areas,' he said.
'Implementation of the agreement...will create favorable conditions and atmosphere for the settlement of the border question,' he said, adding a joint working group would work 'within the framework of this agreement' to decide the actual line of control.
'The two prime ministers said the Joint Working Group on the boundary question should step up its work in the future in order to find a fair and reasonable solution to the border issue to resolve it at an early date,' Wu said.
On the second day of Rao's four-day official visit, he met with Li for 50 minutes alone and then with delegations present.
The progress marked a significant change in more than 40 years of frosty relations stemming from China's annexation of Tibet and exiling of the Dalai Lama to northern India in 1959.
Chinese troops swept across the Himalayas into the Buddhist Ladakh region, provoking border skirmishes that last occurred in 1987. Hundreds of thousands of troops remain along the 2,500-mile (4,000 km) border.
Despite the breakthrough on conventional military reductions, Beijing has reportedly rebuffed New Delhi's attempts to discuss its missile and nuclear deployments along the border.
Rao also apparently snubbed requests by the Tibetan government in exile to confront Beijing on the Tibet issue.
The Dalai Lama had urged Rao to ask Chinese leaders for a direct dialogue on his return to the disputed Himalayan region.
