A day after agreeing to stop marking Sikkim as an independent country on its official foreign ministry website, China on Thursday said historical facts must be respected and hoped that the issue would be resolved 'gradually.'

Also see: China to stop marking Sikkim as separate country

"On the question of Sikkim, this is an issue left over from history," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.

She did not comment on whether China's decision to remove Sikkim from the ministry's website ahead of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Bali, Indonesia, could be considered a tacit acknowledgement of India's sovereignty over the northeastern state.