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PM to visit China from June 22
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 12
Sino-Indian ties are poised for a qualitative jump with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee embarking on a six-day official visit to China on June 22.

The visit was long overdue, as an Indian Prime Minister is going to China after a gap of almost 10 years. During his stay, Mr Vajpayee, accompanied by a high-level delegation of officials and Indian business and industry, will hold wide-ranging talks on substantive issues with the new Chinese leadership.

The visit will provide an excellent opportunity to the Indian leaders to interact with the new leadership in China, which assumed charge after the last People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Though Mr Vajpayee had a 30-minute meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in St Petersburg on May 31, but the visit to China will result in a thorough exchange of views on all issues of mutual concern which will cover both bilateral as well as international issues not only with Mr Jintao but also with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Chairman of Central Military Commission Jiang Zemin.

Mr Jintao had declared that the “new” Chinese leadership gave top priority to relationship with India and favoured both sides working “harder” for constructive cooperation between them.

Regional issues, including New Delhi’s peace initiative towards Islamabad, will also be on the agenda of talks between Mr Vajpayee and the Chinese leaders.

A number of bilateral agreements and Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) are expected to be signed, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs Navtej Sarna said, officially announcing the dates of the visit.

Both India and China are keen to make the visit of the Indian Prime Minister successful as there is a growing realisation in both the capitals that the two neighbours stand to immensely benefit from a positive and forward looking relationship which requires focusing on areas of agreement and pushing back contentious issues.

The invitation for a visit to China to Mr Vajpyaee has been pending for about two years but the September 11 terrorist attack on World Trade Center in New York, an attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001, heightened tensions between India and Pakistan did not permit the Prime Minister to undertake the visit.

The trip to three Chinese cities is also aimed at giving a push to growing bilateral economic and trade ties as both India and China are emerging as economic powers in the South Asian region. The economic ties have been growing at a rapid pace with the bilateral trade crossing $ 3 billion. Indian investments in China will figure prominently during Mr Vajpayee’s talks with the Chinese leaders. Mr Vajpayee will address a joint India-China business meeting in Beijing, the spokesman said.

Apart from Beijing, Mr Vajpayee will travel to Shanghai, China’s largest city as well as a gleaming industrial and commercial hub. He will also visit the Buddhist city of Luoyang in central China’s Henan province.

Mr Vajpayee will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit China since Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao’s visit there in 1993. Mr Vajpayee had last visited China in 1979 as the External Affairs Minister.

Pentagon team to visit India

New Delhi, June 12
A team of Pentagon officials will arrive here on Monday to brief New Delhi on the role expected to be played by Indian troops in Iraq. Responding to a question here, an External Affairs Ministry spokesman said the ministry would play the lead role during the talks. TNS