External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived here on Saturday on a four-day visit to China.
She is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and hold talks with her Chinese counterpart on wide-ranging bilateral and multilateral issues besides attending the Russia-India-China (RIC) trilateral talks during the visit.
This is the 62-year-old leader’s first visit to Beijing after she took over the office last year. The two sides will also explore the possibility of a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this year.
Swaraj is expected to finalise arrangements for opening the second route of the Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra in Tibet for Indian pilgrims, which China had agreed to last year.
The route, through Nathu La Pass in Sikkim, facilitates comfortable travel by buses through Tibet, and is expected to be opened in the next few months. Swaraj is accompanied by new Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, besides other senior ministry officials.
This is Jaishankar’s first foreign trip after being appointed to the post two days ago, replacing Sujatha Singh, whose tenure was abruptly “curtailed”. He served as India’s Ambassador to China for nearly four years before being appointed as Ambassador to the US in 2013.
During the trip, which comes within a week of US President Barack Obama’s three-day visit to New Delhi, Swaraj will “discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of concern to both sides” with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said in New Delhi on Friday. Swaraj is also expected to meet Xi, who along with Wang, had visited India last year immediately after the Modi government assumed power.
During her stay here, Swaraj will also speak at the India-China Media Forum, interact with the Indian Community of Beijing (ICB) and inaugurate the “Visit India Year”, aimed at attracting more Chinese tourists to India.
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