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India, China continue security dialogue

India and China began a second day of talks Tuesday in their first ever dialogue on security matters including the thorny nuclear issue, diplomatic sources told AFP.

The Indian side at the talks is being led by the foreign ministry's joint secretary in charge of disarmament affairs, Rakesh Sood, and the Chinese side by director general of its foreign ministry Asian department, Zhang Jiuhuan.

On Monday, an embassy official said the two sides had an "extensive and wide-ranging dialogue on a variety of issues including global and regional issues."

He said "the atmosphere at the talks was frank and cordial" and both sides "found that the talks were useful for a better understanding of issues and the process would continue."

The current round of talks were to conclude on Tuesday, the official said.

He refused to go into the details of the issues covered so far but diplomatic sources indicated the nuclear issue had featured.

China's foreign ministry has made no comment yet on this week's talks.

However, a Chinese analyst, arguing that neighbours mattered for "China's economic strength and military might," called Tuesday for regional alliances to "defuse international hegemonism by the United States."

Writing in the official China Daily, Yan Xuetong of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations said, "Regional alliances can rival US power and cut into its influence."

"Not all neighbouring nations are friends China can trust," Yan said. "But they do not threaten China's security."

Good neighbours were a key element in fighting separatism within China, Yan noted, without mentioning the restive Tibet -- which borders India where the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is based -- and Xinjiang -- adjacent to Central Asian republics.

"If separatists abroad get no support from China's neighbours, they will become frustrated and fail," he said. "And China-based separatists without international endorsement are not worth worrying about."

Yan also said, "If regionalisation in East Asia can expand to South Asia and the Mideast, Asia will become a stronger world presence."

China and India agreed to hold their current talks when Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh visited Beijing last June in a bid to repair relations strained by India's nuclear tests.

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