Ahead of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's first meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Europe, China on Tuesday indicated that talks are on with India to resolve the Sikkim issue.

"This is a problem that has existed for a long time," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.

"China and India would like to conduct useful and meaningful exploration on this issue."

China had objected to Sikkim's merger with the Indian Union in 1975.

Differences over semantics and other issues have delayed the framing of an understanding on Sikkim, which would have sorted out many of the misconceptions that bedevil Sino-Indian relations.

Vajpayee is likely to meet Hu either in St Petersburg in Russia or on the sidelines of the north-south dialogue initiated by France on the sidelines of the G-8 meet on June 1.

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 7 Sub: Sikkim Hongkong as been China's, but the British colonised Hongkong after the Opium War. It finally was given back by the UK. Nothing India could have ... Posted by sjalesho Sub: China India Discuss Sikkim All interlocutors want to discuss issues that are purely internal matters for India and the Govt appears to fall over backwards to oblige them - ... Posted by Vijai Nair Sub: Enuf China!! Too much importance is given to china's ridiculous claims. Sikkim belongs to India so does arunachal pradesh. The only issue that vajpayee should discuss is ... Posted by Amit Sub: I amsurprised why not discussion on TIBET - India should not recognise china's accession there India should object to China's annexture of TIBET. There is no Sino Indian border so China has no lcus standi on Indian border. Posted by Gautam Sinha Indiana USA Sub: SIKKIM TALKS Not enough details in this article. The Indian government had best beware of considering issues of terminology to be minor, however, as Chinese diplomatic language ... Posted by T Gibson