China, India dealt with border differences properly: PLA

At the same time, underlining the importance Beijing is attaching to the NSA's visit in a bid to set the right tone for ties in the new year, Doval will not only hold talks with the Chinese SR but also have a meeting with Premier Li in Zhongnanhai, the reclusive central leadership compound. China says the border dispute is concerned only to the eastern sector in Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as part of southern Tibet, while India asserts that the dispute includes the western sector too-the area occupied by China in the 1962 war.

The Narendra Modi government plans to waste no time in stepping up engagement with China in the new year, starting with a visit by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to Beijing next week.

Chinese officials told India Today the visit will be an "informal" one.

The visit comes shortly after the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Delhi, which was followed closely in China with India awarding its first bullet train contract to Japan.

Doval, who is also the special representative for Sino-India boundary talks, will hold informal dialogue with his Chinese counterpart and state councillor Yang Jiechi on 5 January, during which both officials will review the progress made on the border issue, the Chinese officials said.

Two of such incursions happened during the visit of Li to India in 2013 and Xi in 2014. On both the occasions, the prolonged standoffs were resolved through hectic parlays at high levels.

He also expressed surprise that while McMahon line was agreed till Burma (Myanmar) by China, the same was not accepted thereafter.

"We have got a very long border, we have got 3,488-km long border, a very hard and mountainous terrain snow-clad...now for the bilateral relations with China, border is the critical and vital issue", Doval said.

"Chinese side is ready to work with the Indian side to implement the consensus reached by the two sides and also observe the agreement signed betweenthe two sides in border defence to jointly maintain peace and stability in the border region", he said.