Swaraj to travel to China this Saturday

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will travel to China on a four-day visit starting Saturday during which she will hold talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and attend Russia-India-China trilateral as well as India-China media forum.
During the visit, which comes within a week of US President Barack Obama's three-day visit here, Swaraj will "discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of concern to both sides" with her Chinese counterpart, MEA said in a statement here today.
The two sides will also explore the possibility of a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this year. Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Wang had visited India last year immediately after the installation of the Modi government.

According to officials, during the "substantive" visit, the two sides will focus on entire gamut of bilateral ties which will include cooperation in the key area of trade.
The minister will also attend the RIC meeting with her Chinese and Russian counterparts. The RIC meeting was earlier scheduled to take place in August but Swaraj cancelled her travel which was to take place just ahead of Modi's visit to Japan.
The visit by Swaraj comes in the backdrop of China describing Obama's visit here as "superficial rapprochement" while talking about differences between India and the US on various issues.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency in a commentary, said, "The shortened three-day visit is more symbolic than pragmatic, given the long-standing division between the two giants, which may be as huge as the distance between them."

During his visit Obama favoured a "greater role" for India in the Asia Pacific region which is seen as US' attempt to contain China's influence in the area including in the South China Sea.
External Affairs Minister will also inaugurate the 2nd India-China High-Level Media Forum and attend the launch of Visit India Year during her stay in Beijing.
Swaraj will also meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Russia-India-China trilateral meeting.