President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin arrived in
Beijing by special plane late Sunday night, kicking off his visit
to China. Putin is here at the invitation of Chinese President
Jiang Zemin.
Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Guchang, Chinese Ambassador to
Russia Zhang Deguang and Russian Ambassador to China Igor Rogachev
greeted Putin and his entourage at the airport.
Putin's wife Lyudmila Putina and other senior Russian officials
arrived aboard the same plane.
According to sources close to Chinese Foreign Ministry, Jiang is to
hold official talks with Putin Monday morning.
Putin will also meet with other Chinese leaders, deliver a speech
at Peking
University and have a tour to the Great
Wall during the visit.
Before the visit, Putin said that he looked forward to meeting
Chinese leaders in Beijing and hoped the tour to uplift the
bilateral relations between the two countries to a new height.
Putin's China tour is an important visit which will inject new
impetus to the growth of the Sino-Russian ties, Chinese Foreign
Ministry Spokesman Kong Quan told the press before the visit.
Kong said that the Chinese and Russian presidents will summarize
the successful experience of China-Russia
relations in the past decade, map out the strategic plan guiding
the bilateral ties in the future, make clear the prior directions
and areas for the two countries' long-term and mutually beneficial
cooperation, and exchange views on a broad range of major
international issues of common interest.
Putin paid a state visit to China during July 17 and 19, 2000.
(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2002)