Sonia Gandhi arrives in China

New Delhi, Oct 25: Congress President Sonia Gandhi along with her son and AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi arrived in Beijing today to boost bilateral relations between the two Asian giants. Sonia is visiting China on the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao. She is also accompanied by Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma, Minister of State in PMO Prithviraj Chavan and Member of Parliament Dr. Karan Singh.

During her visit, UPA chairperson will meet Chinese President and other senior leaders of the Government and the Communist Party. Sonia's visit to China will be her first after becoming Congress president. She will stay in Beijing till Oct 26. On Saturday, she will visit Xiang and Shanghai on Sunday. She will leave for India on October 29.

Sonia, who visits Beijing ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip later this year, will be the first foreign leader to meet President Hu after he was named General Secretary and head of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Politburo. Earlier, Sonia had visited China in 1996 and her trip in 2003 was cancelled.

ANI>