Beijing, July 21: Buoyed by the positive momentum in Sino-Indian relations, China is keen to host Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well as the BJP president Venkaiah Naidu within the year so as to maintain continuity in the high-level bilateral exchanges. "We have invited Congress president Sonia on many occasions in the past. We hope she can come within this year as it would be a good thing for China-India relations to have both the Prime Minister and the opposition leader to visit China within the same year," an official from the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) told a news agency here. Sonia last visited China in 1996.

Party sources said the CPC would like to maintain good relations with all Indian political parties as this would further enhance Sino-Indian relations, especially after the successful visit to China by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in June. The official said that the CPC has also invited Naidu to visit to China to further strengthen party-to-party relations as well as step up interactions and exchanges between the two ruling parties.

"We hope the BJP president could find some time to visit to China which would be beneficial for furthering CPC-BJP relations as well as Sino-Indian relations," the official said.

Meanwhile, the high-level delegation from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led by politburo member, Sitaram Yechuri would be visiting China from tomorrow at the invitation of the CPC. Bureau Report