Sushma Swaraj will start her first trip to China as External Affairs Minister on January 31.China said on Wednesday that the four-day visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Beijing starting January 31 - close on the heels of the US President's India visit - would help both countries deepen mutual trust.
Officials said India is likely to use Swaraj's visit to reiterate to China that it would not follow any American attempt to "contain" China's rise. Even the timing of Swaraj's visit, taking place days after US President Barack Obama wrapped up his trip to India, will reinforce that message.
"This is her first visit since taking office last year. Both sides attach importance to her visit," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters, adding that Swaraj will have in-depth talks with her counterpart Wang Yi and also meet senior Chinese leaders.
During her January 31-February 3 stay in Beijing, Swaraj will also launch a major "Visit India" year-long tourism campaign and a China-India media forum.
On February 2 she will take part in the Russia-India-China (RIC) foreign ministers' trilateral meeting. That meeting too will underline India's message that it will pursue closer ties with China and Russia, despite the latter's problems with the West, even as Modi's government has moved ahead to substantially deepen strategic relations with Washington.
China's media has in the past week hinted at Beijing's unease at Modi's outreach to the US. While Chinese officials maintained this week they saw no reason to believe India was moving away from its independent foreign policy, State-run media outlets hit out at Washington for trying to rope India into its "re-balance" in Asia to "contain" China.
Hua said China and India were "in sound coordination and cooperation in regional and international issues", adding that President Xi Jinping's September visit to Gujarat and Delhi last year had "written a new chapter for strategic cooperation for the next five to ten years".
"China will work with India to sustain this momentum to build a closely knit partnership," Hua said.
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