China on Monday said it is in touch with India to finalise dates for border talks, which were put off after rejection of its demand for cancellation of a Buddhist meet to be addressed by the Dalai Lama, even as it opposed any country giving platform for his "anti-China activities".
Commenting for the first time after the border talks slated to be held in New Delhi on November 28-29 were put off, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a media briefing here that the two countries were in the process of finalising dates and agenda.
"China pays great attention to the 15th meeting of Special Representatives on the China-India boundary issue. At the moment the two sides are in communication on specific date of the meeting," he said.
Asked whether China pressed India to cancel the international Buddhist conference being held in New Delhi and which is to be addressed by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, Hong said "I want to point out that the Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure but the one who has been engaged in the separatist activities for long time under the pretext of religion".
"We oppose any country providing platform for his anti-China activities in any form," he said.
On whether India has said anything on postponement of the talks and what are China's expectations, he said, "The two sides have been in communication on the relevant issues of the boundary meeting and also are in close communication on the specific agenda of the meeting."
While the postponement of the meeting to be held between National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and top Chinese diplomat Dai Bingguo dominated the headlines in India, it has been totally blanked out by the Chinese official media.
