India, China to hold talks on border row

Senior Indian and Chinese envoys will this week hold talks aimed at resolving a bitter border dispute, the first such discussions since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.

China's special representative Yang Jiechi was to start his three-day visit to New Delhi yesterday. He will hold talks with Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval, the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement yesterday.

The meetings starting Monday -- the 18th round of boundary talks -- are part of a push to make progress on the long-festering row between the regional rivals before Modi's expected visit to China in May.

China defeated India in a brief but bloody war in 1962 but their border remains unresolved, with each side regularly accusing the other of sending soldiers to encroach on territory.