New Delhi, May 6
In a big step to raise India-China relations to a qualitatively new plain, Beijing has for the first time officially stopped showing Sikkim as a separate country in Asia, a move promptly appreciated by New Delhi.
Reports from Beijing said the world map just published by China in the
World Affairs Year Book—2003/2004 had stopped showing Sikkim as a separate nation and did not mention the tiny Himalayan state separately in its index of countries.
The official Chinese publication last year had shown Sikkim as a separate country in its map and had mentioned it among “independent” nations.
Reacting to the development, an External Affairs Ministry spokesman recalled that during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s visit to Beijing in June last year, a process was started by the two countries by which Sikkim would cease to be an issue in India-China relations.
“In this regard, we have taken note of the latest development,” the spokesman stressed.
The formal change of Chinese maps will also seal the commitment implicit in the trade accord signed during Mr Vajpayee’s visit to Beijing in June last year by which the two countries had agreed that border trade would be conducted through Chhangu in Sikkim.
