India China hold talks amid bickerings over border issue

New Delhi, March 1 (ANI): Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi met his counterpart S M Krishna in New Delhi on Thursday in the backdrop of Beijing objection over Defence Minister A K Antony's recent visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

Jiechi arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday to soothe nerves and boost bilateral ties between the nations and to lay the groundwork ahead of the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India for the BRICS summit later this month.

BRICS is an international political organisation that bands together emerging economic powerhouses of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Antony visited Arunachal Pradesh last month to participate in the statehood celebrations.

The state is one of the biggest issues of contention between India and China.

China says most of the state's territory is part of Tibet. For its part, India claims China's isolated Aksai Chin plateau near Kashmir as its own.

China and India still claim vast swathes of each other's territories along their 3,500 km (2,173 mile) Himalayan border.

Despite the unsettled border row, trade ties between two of the fastest growing economies are booming, with both countries setting an ambitious 100 billion dollar target for bilateral trade by 2015 from the current 74 billion dollar. (ANI)