Tajikistan cedes land to China Published duration 13 January 2011

image caption The Pamir mountains lie on the Tajik border with China and Afghanistan

China and Tajikistan say that they have settled a century-old border dispute, after the Central Asian nation agreed to cede land to China.

The Tajik parliament voted on Wednesday to ratify a 1999 deal handing over 386 square miles (1,000 sq km) of land in the remote Pamir mountain range.

The Tajik foreign minister said that this represented 5.5% of the land that Beijing had sought.

China said the move thoroughly resolved the border dispute.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei gave no details on the treaty.

But he said the dispute was solved "according to universally recognised norms of international law through equal consultations".

An opposition leader described the deal as a defeat for Tajik diplomacy and a violation of the constitution.

The Pamir mountain range stretches along the Tajik border with China and Afghanistan.

It is not clear where exactly the land to be ceded is or how many people live there.

China is the biggest investor in the Tajik economy, particularly in the energy and infrastructure sectors.