India's National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra arrived Sunday for the two days of dialogue and was meeting Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo.

"He is in town and having discussions with his counterpart," said P.K. Rawat, a spokesman at the Indian embassy.

Mishra, who is the representative of Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the border issue, is also expected to call on some senior Chinese leaders and exchange views on bilateral ties as well as other issues of common concern.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said last week Beijing hoped progress would result from Mishra's visit.

"We hope that against the backdrop of the continuous development of Sino-Indian relations, the two sides' representatives will ... actively inquire into and solve the border issues between the two countries," spokesman Kong Quan said at a regular briefing.

The talks follow a round of dialogue in October in New Delhi. Moves to resolve the border dispute gained momentum after Vajpayee visited Beijing in June.

The world's most populous countries fought a brief but bitter border war in 1962 and have never demarcated an official border.

India accuses China of occupying 38,000 square kilometres (14,670 square miles) of territory in Kashmir while Beijing lays claim to 90,000 square kilometres (34,750 square miles) -- all of Arunachal Pradesh state, the scene of the war between the two.

During Vajpayee's talks in Beijing, the two sides agreed to reopen the Nathu La Pass between Chinese-ruled Tibet and Sikkim, a former protectorate which New Delhi annexed in 1975.

India interprets the agreement on the Nathu La Pass as the first, if tacit, recognition by China of Sikkim as an Indian state.

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