INDIA AND CHINA

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33783, 4 March 1975, Page 8

INDIA AND CHINA

(N.ZP.A.-Reuter—Copyright) NEW DELHI.

A senior Chinese leader said yesterday that China was prepared to begin talks to restore her relations with India, to normal if the Indian Government were to take the initiative. The offer, considered the most positive from China for more than a decade, came from the Vice-Premier (Mr Chen Hsi-lien), who is also a member of the Politburo and an important military leader.

He is reported to have told reporters during an hour-long courtesy stop in Calcutta, on his way back to Peking from the Coronation of King Birendra in Nepal, that China was ready for talks it India desired it and took the initiative.

Mr Chen said in response to a question that it was difficult to predict how soon China’s relations with India might be restored; but he had told the West Bengal Minister of Finance (Mr Shankar Ghose), who met

him at the airport: ‘T hope our problems will be sorted out one day.” Indian officials were not immediately availabe for comment on Mr Chen’s remarks, but the reaction of most observers is that the New Delhi Government would be very cautious in ! its approach despite its frequent statements on the need for better relations with China. The observers consider the statement by Mr Chen as very significant, coming as it has after weeks of what is regarded as an extension of China’s “ping-pong” diplomacy with India: she sent a large delegation, headed by senior officials, to the recent world table tennis championships in Calcutta, and the main theme of the delegation’s utterances in India i was friendship.