By IANS,
New Delhi : Ahead of President Pratibha Patil’s six-day visit to China, India Tuesday hoped that Beijing would come out with a clear expression of support for New Delhi’s claim for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
“They have taken note of our legitimate aspirations for a greater role in the United Nations, and more specifically in the UN Security Council,” Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told reporters here, a day before Patil leaves for China Wednesday.
She was responding to a question on whether India was hoping for a clearer expression of support from Beijing in its bid for a UN Security Council permanent seat during the president’s forthcoming visit.
Patil will meet her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in Beijing Thursday. The two will discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues to invigorate relations between the two countries.
There will be an opportunity to refer to the UN Security Council seat during the discussions, said Rao.
“Our effort will be to ensure there is an evolution of the Chinese position,” she added.
China has backed greater role for India in world affairs, but its leaders have stopped short of declaring explicit support for India’s bid for a permanent seat on the powerful Security Council.
Rao downplayed differences between India and China over a host of issues, including China issuing stapled visas for people of Jammu and Kashmir and Chinese aid to projects in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
She said the relationship between India and China is a wider one between two larger neighbours and two emerging powers that could contribute to regional peace, stability and prosperity.
President Patil, who will go to Beijing, Luoyang and Shanghai, is visiting the country on the invitation of President Hu Jintao, who came to India in November 2006.
Minister of Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahay, MPs Jayanti Natarajan, Ramdas Agarwal and former Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh will be part of the delegation, besides over 55 business-delegation members.
“India-China relations are characterized by regular high-level exchanges, which are proposed to be maintained and even enhanced. I would like to note that developing friendly cooperation with China has been one of the priorities of our foreign policy and we are pleased that our relations are becoming truly multifaceted,” Rao said.
She said the visit by the president assumes importance as it takes place during the 60th anniversary year of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two Asian neighbours.
Apart from holding talks with her Chinese counterpart, the president will meet other senior Chinese leaders also.
During her visit, she will inaugurate an Indian-style Buddhist temple, which was inspired by the Sanchi Stupa and took five years to build at a cost of $4 million. The temple is located at Luoyang, one of China’s ancient capitals, in central China’s Henan province. It is adjacent to the White Horse Temple (Baima Si) built in the first century A.D. in honour of two Indian monks who travelled on horseback, carrying with them religious texts and an image of the Buddha.
Shanghai will be the last leg of her visit where she will visit the Shanghai World Expo, which was opened to the public last month. At the expo, Patil will visit the Indian pavilion which has become one of the hottest spots with an average 25,000 visitors thronging its stalls where handicrafts to Indian cuisine are being showcased.
In Shanghai, the president will also inaugurate the statue of Nobel Laureaute Rabindranath Tagore who visited the city in 1924.