President Pranab Mukherjee shakes hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ceremonial departure to the State visit to China at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI Photo)
President Pranab Mukherjee today embarked on a four-day visit to China with an aim to bolster economic ties between the two countries and seek cooperation for combating designs of terror groups.
During his first state visit to China, the President will be meeting his counterpart Xi Jinping, Premier Le Keqiang and other top leaders.
He is likely to raise the issue of China blocking India's bid to get a UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar and its insistence on India signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to get membership of the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
India had countered the Chinese contention of signing NPT before becoming a member of NSG as "confusion" as NPT allows civil nuclear cooperation with non-NPT countries.
Ahead of his state visit to China, President Mukherjee had told the Chinese state-run television that India seeks a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement of the boundary question which will help in achieving full potential of Sino-India relationship.
"We seek a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement of the boundary question and, pending the boundary settlement, to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas. Both sides should strive to ensure that outstanding issues are addressed in a manner that demonstrates mutual sensitivity to each other's concerns, interests and aspirations," he had said last week.
This will be Pranab Mukherjee's first visit to China as President though he has visited the country a number of times in different capacities. The last Presidential visit to China was by Pratibha Patil in 2010.
President Mukherjee will also discuss the issue of terrorism with the Chinese leadership. Before embarking on his visit, he had asked China to join hands with India in the fight against terrorism which will have "its own impact".
He will begin his visit by arriving in the industrialised Chinese city of Guangzhou today, the first Indian leader to so.
Besides interacting with the Indian community, which has over 3,000 businessmen, President Mukherjee will also address India-China Business Forum to highlight investment opportunities in India.
On the second leg of the visit, he will travel to Beijing where he will hold wide-ranging talks with the Chinese leadership on key bilateral, regional and global issues.
A key engagement of the President will be a round table of Vice Chancellors of Chinese and Indian universities. A number of MoUs will be signed between academic institutions of both the countries.
In Beijing, the President will also be talking to students of Peking University.
President Mukherjee is accompanied by a delegation of academicians including Vice Chancellors of two central universities as well as heads of IIT-Delhi and Bhubaneshwar, IIM, Ahmedabad and NIT Nagpur and Agartala.
Union Minister Santosh Ganwar and four lawmakers will also accompany the President as part of the delegation.