Russian President Arrives in Beijing

Russian President Arrives in Beijing

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the Chinese capital Monday night by special plane, kicking off his state visit to China as guest of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

This is Putin's first visit to China since he assumed the Russian presidency. Putin led a delegation to China in 1994, when he was the first deputy mayor of St. Petersburg.

Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Yang Wenchang, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Wu Tao, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov and Russian Ambassador to China Igor A. Rogachev greeted Putin and his party at the airport. Ivanov arrived July 15 to prepare for Putin's visit.

Aboard the same plane were Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, Defense Minister Igor Dmitriyevich Sergeyev, Atomic Energy Minister Yevgeny Adamov and Power Minister Alexander Gavrin.

Sources in the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Jiang will hold talks with Putin today, during which the two heads of state are expected to exchange views on furthering the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation, and other major global and regional issues of common concern.

Two weeks ago, Jiang conferred with Putin when they attended the "Shanghai Five" summit meeting in Tajikistan's capital of Dushanbe.

On the eve of his visit, Putin told Chinese journalists in Moscow that the aim of his China tour is to promote the relationship between Russia and China in all fields. The two countries already share a strategic partnership, and China is on the top of the agenda of Russian foreign policies, he added.