How India missed an opportunity to resolve dispute with China in the 1980s

An exclusive edited excerpt from former secretary Shyam Saran's How India Sees the World

In 1983 I was back in Beijing on my second assignment. A.P. Venkateswaran was the ambassador. I had become friendly with a Chinese scholar, Zhao Weiwen, a senior researcher and a specialist on India with the newly established think tank China Institute of Contemporary International Relations. During one of our many conversations, she suggested that Ambassador Venkateswaran meet with the head of her institute, Professor Ma, who she claimed had direct access to the senior leadership, in particular to Zhao Ziyang, then the Chinese premier. Through her good offices a series of informal and confidential meetings were held through 1984