EIJING: China is ready to step up cooperation with India to combat terrorism and resolve the vexed boundary dispute through a mutually-acceptable solution to consolidate bilateral ties, Chinese premier Zhu Rongji has said.

"China and India have much common ground on counter-terrorism. The Chinese side is ready to step up exchanges and cooperation with India and other relevant parties in this field," Zhu said here in an interview on the eve of his maiden visit to India.

Zhu, who is arriving in New Delhi on Sunday for a six-day official visit, described terrorism as the common enemy to the entire human society.

He said that China's position against terrorism was consistent and clear-cut. China has expressed shock and condemned the December 13 terrorist strike on the Indian Parliament.

Asked whether China would be willing to set up joint working group with India on anti-terrorism, Zhu said: "the two foreign offices may stay in touch on this question".

Zhu, who would arrive in Agra on Sunday, is the first Chinese premier to visit India in 11 years. He is scheduled to hold in-depth talks on bilateral, regional and international issues with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday.

"My upcoming visit to India is aimed exactly at enhancing mutual understanding and trust between the two countries, consolidating our traditional friendship and deepening our exchanges and cooperation in the various fields," he said in an upbeat mood.

Commenting on the Sino-Indian boundary dispute, Zhu, who is also a standing committee member of the politburo of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), said that Beijing had always adopted a positive approach towards resolving the border question with India.

"The border question is a left-over burden by the colonialist, and it should not become an obstacle to the development of relations between our two countries. On the contrary, by gradually improving and developing our ties, we can help create a favourable atmosphere necessary for the ultimate resolution of the border question," Zhu said.

India has said that China is illegally occupying 43,180 sq km of Jammu and Kashmir, including 5,180 sq km illegally ceded to Beijing by Pakistan under the Sino-Pakistan boundary agreement in 1963. On the other hand, China accuses India of possessing some 90,000 sq km of Chinese territory. China also views Sikkim's accession to India as illegal.

Referring to the several rounds of border negotiations, the Chinese premier expressed satisfaction over the recent progress. "It is gratifying to see that, thanks to our joint efforts, the situation along the line of actual control (LaC) in the border area has, on the whole, remained stable," he noted.

In keeping with the spirit of the agreements already signed, "the two sides have made good progress in clarifying and confirmng the LaC alignment in our border area and exchanged the sample maps and transpositioned sample maps on the LaC in the middle sector of China-India boundary successively," he said.

"I am convinced that through friendly consultation and joint efforts in the spirit of mutual understanding and accommodation and mutual readjustment, we will be able to find a mutually acceptable solution that is fair and reasonable to the border question, including the Sikkim question and other questions left over by history," Zhu said.

Commenting on bilateral ties, the Chinese premier described India as China's important neighbour.

It was a set guideline of China's foreign policy to develop good neighbourly relations with India on the basis of the five principles of peaceful co-existence, he said.

Zhu noted that recent years had witnessed a good momentum in the continued exchange of high-level visits between the two neighbouring countries.

The visit to India by Chinese President Jiang Zemin in 1996 and the visit to China by President K.R. Narayanan in May 2000 played a positive role in furthering "a healthy and steady development of China-India relations," he said, adding "I am convinced that such a momentum will continue