India-China relations ‘complex’: Nirupama

Foreign Secy Nirupama Rao said India had repeatedly raised with China the issue of construction of a dam on Brahmaputra but it had consistently denied any such engagement.

India has repeatedly raised with China the issue of construction of a dam by them on Brahmaputra river and it has consistently denied any such engagement,Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Wednesday.

“What I want to say is that this matter has been taken up not just once but on a number of occasions with China and China has consistently denied that it is engaged in any such construction activity on the Brahmaputra,” she said here.

She was replying to a question on the reported construction at the Zangmu site on the Chinese side of the Brahmaputra river,which was confirmed by the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) as per media reports.

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The issue also figured in the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India and East Asia Summit in Thailand last month.

Describing India-China relations as “complex”,Rao said the dialogue with that country will acquire “more substance and more relevance” in the years to come.

She said the two countries would also be able to resolve all outstanding issues including the boundary matter through proper mechanism.

Asked about China’s reaction to the Dalai Lama’s visit to Tawang,she said there was no “strain” in the relationship and that was very evident at various levels including the recent meeting between the two Prime Ministers.

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