External Affairs Minister S M Krishna arrived in Beijing on Monday on a four-day visit to hold "comprehensive" talks with top Chinese leaders on a gamut of issues including issuance of stapled visas by Beijing and "illegal" construction in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Billed as a visit aimed at consolidation of the much improved Sino-Indian ties after last year's spat on Arunachal Pradesh, Krishna on his arrival was received at the Beijing airport by Chinese protocol officials and Indian Ambassador to China, S. Jaishankar and other senior Indian diplomats.
His official engagements here would begin tomorrow with an address at the China Institute of International Studies, (CIIS) on Sino-Indian relations in the 21st century. He would later attend a civic reception in the evening here. On April 7 he would hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi followed by call on meeting with Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao.
Later he would kick off the celebrations to mark the 60th year of diplomatic relations at a function at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in the historic city where the famous playwright and theatre director from Manipur, Ratan Thiyam would present a play on Emperor Ashoka.
Indian officials said the visit was aimed at consolidating the bilateral relation which were improving after last year s tensions arising out of spate of reports of border incursions by Chinese troops, Chinese statements on Arunachal Pradesh followed by India-based Tibetan leader Dalai Lama s visit there.
Krishna s talks with Yang was expected to cover political, trade and strategic issues. He was expected to discuss India s concerns relating to terrorism, lack of progress on talks to demarcate the borders, issuance of visas on separate paper by China for the residents of Jammu and Kashmir, projects undertaken by China in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, (POK) and China s stand on India s aspiration to become permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC). PTI
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