Congress President Sonia Gandhi arrived on Thursday to meet and exchange views with the newly-elected Chinese Communist Party leadership on a range of bilateral issues.The Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is accompanied by her son and AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on the five-day visit, which is expected to boost bilateral relations that are already on the upswing.Sonia is due to meet with Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Hu Jintao on Friday.She will also have meetings with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Politburo member Liu Qi as well as call on former Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua, who had played a major role in fostering bilateral ties in the early stages of Sino-Indian relations.In a rare honour, Sonia is expected to be the first leader of a foreign political party to meet with Hu and Wen, both re-elected to the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee on Monday at the first plenum of 17th National Congress of the Party.Amid tight security, Sonia was received at the Beijing International Airport by Indian Ambassador to China, Nirupama Rao and other senior officials, including from the CPC.Sonia is accompanied by a high-level Party delegation comprising by senior Congress leader Karan Singh and ministers of state Anand Sharma and Prithviraj Chavan.Besides Beijing, Sonia will also visit Xian, one of China's ancient capitals in northwest China and Shanghai, the communist giant's gleaming commercial hub in the east.Although Sonia's visit comes at a crucial time when the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal has become a bone of contention between the UPA and Left parties, the nuclear issue may not figure in her talks with the top Chinese leaders, analysts said.They also expected that it is highly unlikely that the Chinese side will raise this matter in their discussions and will instead focus on how the two can improve party-to-party interactions."Officially, the Chinese view the Indo-US nuclear deal as a bilateral issue between India and the United States.Moreover, the Chinese does not want to be seen in interfering in India's internal affairs," one source said.A senior official from the CPC's International Department said the Party has made all arrangements to ensure a "successful" visit to the Congress Party President and that Beijing fondly remembers her late husband and former Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and his important contribution to the promotion and development of Sino-Indian relations.The Chinese Foreign Ministry has said that China attaches "great importance" to the visit of Sonia and it will have an important role in the further development of Sino-Indian relations."China attaches great importance to her visit and believes the visit will play an important role in promoting mutual understanding, bilateral relations and cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao said."We wish her visit a success," Liu said.
