China to address issue of stapled visas during Wen's visit

"We will not exclude the possibility of discussions on any issue. For the issues such as visas, I believe the working level staff will talk about it between our two countries," Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue, who briefed the media here about Wen’s visit to India and Pakistan, said.

Indian officials had said that China has promised to come up with some solution to solve the issue amid reports that some residents of Jammu and Kashmir already started getting regular visas.

The defence exchanges were put on hold after top Indian General B S Jaswal was denied visa on the ground that he headed troops of Jammu and Kashmir, which China regards as "disputed territory".

Hu also said the proposed dam being built by China on Brahmpatura river in Tibet would not affect water availability to India and the down stream countries. Asked whether the issue of India's bid for the permanent membership of UNSC would figure during Wen's visit in the light of US President Barrack Obama's announcement extending support for it, Hu said Wen would discuss it during talks with the Indian leaders.

"Our discussions will touch upon this matter. It is not for the first time it has come up in our discussions. Our two countries have exchanged views on many occasions and publicised documents. We have made our stand clear. We are happy to see India playing a bigger role in international arena including the United Nations," Hu said without specifying whether China would come out in support.

China view the three-day visit of Wen to New Delhi will be "big event in India-China relations", Hu said. On the Brahmaputra dam issue, he said "China and India have had very good communications and this will not pose as any obstacle to the development of our relations and will not affect the life of people living in the downstream of the river," he said.

On the emerging close ties between India and US, Hu said during Premier Wen's visit to India, there will be "a lot of agreements signed" but this has nothing to do with the relations India-US ties.

"All relations have international impact, so are US-India relations and US-China relations. I believe that the bilateral relations or the trilateral relations should be sound interaction and they should be mutually re-enforcing," Hu said.

Relations between china and India are natural and we have a bright prospect for future development, he said. Heading the biggest ever delegation of 400 businessmen, Wen would be arriving in New Delhi on a three-day visit on December 15 and hold talks with Prime Minister Singh, President Pratibha Patil, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and other political leaders before leaving for Pakistan on December 17.

"Premier Wen's visit to India will not only cover economy, trade" but also cover a host of issues concerning bilateral and multilateral areas, he said. "In multilateral areas, our two countries have cooperated with each other on addressing major international issues and regional affairs," he said.

Hu said both China and India are major developing countries in Asia and it is important that the two countries have good neighbourly relations for "decent friendship" Hu said as the bilateral trade was set to reach the target of USD 60 billion this year, China has emerged as India's largest trading partner while India has become China's ninth largest trading partner.

Bilateral cooperation in power generation and communication, transportation and other infrastructure in India has become focus areas for China, Liang Wentao, Deputy Director General of Department of Asian Affairs of the Chinese Commerce Ministry who briefed the media on trade developments between the two countries said.

"India has become China's largest overseas hyper market. Bilateral investments have been expanded to software and other hi-tech areas," he said.