President Pratibha Patil arrived here Wednesday to a red carpet welcome as the first Indian Head of State to visit China in a decade during which she will meet the top Chinese leadership and sign a number of agreements. Patil was warmly welcomed at the Beijing International Airport by Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister, Hu Zhengyue and Indian Ambassador to China, S Jaishankar, the Press Trust of India reported. During her six-day visit, the President will meet her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, Chairman of the National People's Congress Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao to discuss ways and means to expand the bilateral ties. All bilateral issues and the situation in the region will be discussed during these meetings. Political dialogue, cultural diplomacy and economic cooperation will be three crucial components of the visit, which the two countries pledged to utilize to deepen and expand their strategic cooperation. Besides Beijing, Patil will travel to Loyang in central China, and Shanghai as well as address members of India-China business forum. Ahead of her visit, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said in New Delhi that Patil's visit also "signals our unequivocal commitment to deepen and expand our strategic and cooperative partnership with China." A number of agreements are under discussion between the two countries and are likely to be signed during the visit. China had on Tuesday said the two countries would use the opportunity to deepen their bilateral understanding and cooperation to upgrade the Sino-India relations to a higher level. "We welcome President Patil's visit to China," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu had said. Patil is the first Indian head of state to visit China in a decade. The then President K R Narayanan had paid a visit to China in 2000.
