Chinese foreign minister, senior US official to hold talks with Modi government

China and the US would be establishing first contact with the new Indian government with the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the special envoy of the Chinese president, here Sunday and senior US official Nisha Biswal's meeting with Indian officials.

Wang, who will meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday, is to meet President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had spoken to Prime Minister Modi on the phone after he was sworn in on Monday.

This is the first contact between the two governments after the Indian general elections.

Wang will meet leading Indian officials and will have in-depth exchanges on how to push forward bilateral relations, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a media briefing in Beijing earlier.

"India has formed a new government and China and India now face new opportunities of development," Hong said.

The details of President Xi Jinping's visit to India later this year are also likely to figure in talks during Wang's visit. Prime Minister Modi had extended an invitation for the Chinese president during his telephone talks with Li.

With the Modi government focussing on the neighbourhood, and beginning its bilateral visits with Bhutan and later to Japan, Beijing would be keen to ramp up relations with New Delhi.

Modi is visiting Japan next month, accepting an invite from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japan and China are not on the best of terms following their maritime stand- off in the East China Sea.

US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal is likely to meet Sushma Swaraj and other top officials on Monday.

Biswal would be laying the ground to smoothen Indo-US relations which have seen some rough patches, especially after the Devyani Khobragade incident.

The Modi government's intention to push ahead with bilateral ties is also evident from the fact that the prime minister has accepted President Barack Obama's invite for a summit in Washington, which is to be held at the end of September.

Minister Sushma Swaraj would also be meeting her counterpart US Secretary of State John Kerry in the US ahead of the bilateral summit.

Biswal is to push ahead with "the full scope of bilateral and regional issues," the US State Department said.