China removes Sikkim as a nation from official Webster

Beijing took the decision ahead of Prime Minister AB Vajpayee's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the ongoing 9th ASEAN summit.

Describing the meeting between Vajpayee and Wen as highly successful, Sibal said China gave an assurance that it would honour all the commitments it gave during Vajpayee's visit to that country in June this year.

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This was Wen's second meeting with Vajpayee in three months after the Indian Prime Minister's landmark visit to China.

China, the foreign secretary said, had earlier listed Sikkim as a separate country on its foreign ministry Webster and "that no longer exists".

Sibal also announced that special political representatives of the two countries -- National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra and senior Chinese Vice Minister in the Foreign Ministry Dai Bingguo -- would meet in New Delhi on October 23 to hold talks on the vexed boundary question.