India’s Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee is curently on a four day good will visit to China. Admist talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi over border issues, Mukherjee inaugurated the Consulate General of India in Guangzhou city and expressed interest in visiting the earthquake hit Sichuan province before returning to India on Friday.
Although Mukherjee’s meet with Premiere Wen Jiabao was called off, he will hold talks with Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping today. Xi, was appointed to be Vice-President in March and is tipped to be Hu’s successor when he completes his second term in 2012.
Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi accepted his invitation and agreed to visit New Delhi later this year. Wu Bangguo, chairman of the National People’s Congress, the Chinese parliament, is also scheduled to visit India this year.
According to Xinhua news agency, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has hailed the comprehensive development of the China-India relationship, saying it was ‘at the best period of development in history’, and faced ‘important strategic opportunities’.
Yang also vowed to closely cooperate with the Indian side to strengthen exchanges and dialogue, expand economic and trade cooperation and consider the concerns of each other to promote the China-India strategic partnership.
