Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in India, meets PM Modi

, Sept 17: Chinese President

arrived here on Wednesday on a three-day visit along with the First Lady Peng Liyuan and other delegates. The guests were given a grand welcome at the airport where Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and Governor OP Kohli were present.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also in Ahmedabad to celebrate his 64th birth anniversary today, met Xinping and Liyuan at the Hyatt later.

PM Modi will host the Chinese president over a moonlight dinner in a Swiss luxury tent on the banks of River Sabarmati on Wednesday night. They are also set to take a walk down the riverfront.

Jinping's visit comes in the middle of a border face-off between the two neighbours after over 200 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army reportedly entered the Indian territory in Ladakh earlier this week. India took a string stand at a flag meeting initiated by Beijing on Wednesday on the border issue and reiterated its stand on defending the 3,500 kilometre border. The meeting, however, was inconclusive and a another meeting took place on Wednesday.

Talks on the decades-old border conflict and infrastructure and trade are set to feature in the talks between the two sides. Jinping and Modi are also likely to sign agreements on infrastructure, railways and sister city between Ahmedabad and China's Guangdong province.

On Tuesday, Modi said the relation between India and China goes beyond simple arithmetic and described the ties as: ""Inch (India and China) towards Miles (Millennium of Exceptional Energy)."

The last time a Chinese president had come to India was Hu Jintao, Jinping's predecessor, in 2006.

Oneindia News