Chinese Prez arrives in India to attend BRICS Summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived here on Saturday to attend the 2016 BRICS Summit.

He was welcomed upon his arrival by the traditional Indian dancers.

Before coming to India, he also paid a state visit to Cambodia and Bangladesh.

His visit comes just days after China extended its veto on India's move in the United Nations to blacklist Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar.

With this move, China has for the second time prevented India's effort after on March 31 this year, it put on hold the ban and blocked New Delhi's move to put a ban on the JeM leader and the Pathankot attack mastermind under the sanctions committee of the council.

Before this, China had also opposed India's membership into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Also, yesterday on the eve of President Xi Jinping's India visit, China maintained there was no change in its stand on India's NSG membership bid and New Delhi's attempts to get JeM chief Masood Azhar designated as a terrorist by the UN, as Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said the relations between India and China made "great headway" despite some "disputes" but there was no change in Beijing's stand on the issues of NSG and Azhar.

Geng also expressed hope that the two countries can continue with dialogue and cooperation to exchange views on some disputes, seek solutions and properly manage relevant disputes.

Meanwhile, Chinese State owned Xinhua news agency said that Xi is expected to bring confidence and vitality to partnership within the bloc of emerging economies and enable it to contribute more to global growth and economic governance when he attends the eighth BRICS summit in India.

To this end, China, the bloc's constant supporter and active player, is expected to be of great help by enhancing confidence in deepening partnership within the bloc and providing fresh impetus to the cooperation between developing countries, it said.

President Xi will also hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit.