Beijing, June 15: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's upcoming visit to China will be a new milestone that will pave way for strengthened Sino-Indian relations, key to peace and security of Asia, former Chinese ambassador to India, Cheng Ruisheng said here today. "As a farsighted pioneer in restoring normal Sino-Indian relations in 1979 and a senior statesman of the world today, Prime Minister Vajpayee's visit to China will certainly be a new milestone in further developing the relations in an overall way," Cheng told in an interview.
Vajpayee is scheduled to pay an official visit to China from June 22 to 27, the first by an Indian prime minister in almost a decade. He is visiting China as the guest of his new Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao.
Noting that Vajpayee's visit is taking place after the new Chinese leaders assumed power in Beijing, Cheng also a member of the India-China Eminent Persons Group (EPG) said, "the visit will also initiate a new round of exchange of visits at a high level”.
During his visit, Vajpayee will hold official talks with Wen and will have separate meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao, chairman of the Central Military Commission, Jiang Zemin, chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress, Wu Bangguo and vice president zeng Qinghong. Bureau Report