New Delhi: China seems to be hardening its position on the border dispute with India - the most recent incident being not granting a visa to an IAS officer from Arunachal.
Yet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chose not to raise it with President Hu Jintao. They met earlier on Thursday on the sidelines of the G8 summit.
The Prime Minister made no reference to reports that China is backing away from a two year old agreement on the disputed border.
In fact Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon later confirmed that the border issue was never raised during the meeting of the two leaders.
However, Manmohan Singh described China as the ‘greatest neighbour’ with which India wants the strongest relationship and Jintao reciprocated by saying the relations have reached a ‘fast track growth’.
Manmohan Singh, who met Hu for 30 minutes on the sidelines of the G-8 summit here, told the Chinese President that India was keen on strengthening the ties with the neighbour.
"Our government and I speak for all the people regardless of their political affiliations, want strongest relationship with China. China is our greatest neighbour," PTI quoted Manmohan Singh as saying.
On his part, Hu responded, "China-India relations have reached a stage of fast track growth", Foreign Secretary Shivshankar menon said.
(With agency inputs)
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