File photo of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
Settlement of the border issue is "critical" for India-China ties, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said today, as he called for a "larger plan" for "tackling" all ticklish matters.
Mr Doval also said that while India's relations with China "are looking up" there was a need to remain at a "very very high alert".
Speaking at the annual K F Rustamji lecture, Mr Doval, who leads the Indian side at the talks of Special Representatives with China, also dwelt on China's emergence as world's economic power and its relations with Pakistan.
The event is organised by the Border Security Force (BSF) in memory of Rustamji, the founder Director General of the force who retired in late 1960's but was reemployed as first Special Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs. He is the only police officer who has been awarded with Padma Vibushan, country's second highest civilian award.
Mr Doval, a former Intelligence Bureau Chief said, "...we might have to see China border in a different way once the boundary is settled. We have got a very long border we have got 3,488-km long border, a very difficult and mountainous terrain snow-clad... now for the bilateral relations with China, border is the critical and vital issue," he said speaking on the topic 'Challenges of Securing India's Borders; Strategising the Response'.
He said that all advancement made in the "relationship" with China gets centred at the settlement of the border.
Mr Doval said while the bilateral relations with China "are looking up" there was a need to remain at a "very very high alert".
"We are particularly concerned about the Eastern sector where the claims have been made on Tawang (in Arunachal Pradesh) which is totally in contravention of accepted principles," Mr Doval said and expressed surprise that while McMahon line was agreed till Burma by China, the same was not accepted thereafter.
"The fact is that there is settled population in these areas particularly in Tawang and other areas which have been participating in the national mainstream all through. So, these are the ticklish issues. But these ticklish issues have to be talked about, deliberated and worked out," he said, adding that there was a need for working out a "larger plan" for tackling China.
The comments by Mr Doval have come days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the country and asked Beijing to "reconsider its approach on some issues that hold us back", an apparent reference to the long-pending boundary issue.