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India, China agree on

troop cut

NEW DELHI: India and China agreed on Sunday to pull back their troops from four border posts in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, parts of which are claimed by Beijing, officials said.

The decision followed two years of talks to ease tensions along the 4,000-km (2,500 miles) Himalayan border, cause of a brief war between the Asian giants in 1962.

The two countries had agreed to work for peace and tranquillity along the disputed frontiers when Indian Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao visited Beijing in September 1993.

"This is a major advance and a positive development where two countries have gone beyond enunciating general principles on the implementation of the 1993 border peace and tranquillity agreement," Indian Foreign Secretary Salman Haider said.

He was speaking to reporters after three days of talks with an 11-member Chinese delegation headed by Vice Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan.-Reuter