Sonia Gandhi to visit China

NEW DELHI—India’s ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi will visit China for five days as the two Asian giants seek to improve ties, officials said Tuesday. Gandhi will leave Wednesday for Beijing, where she was scheduled to meet with President Hu Jintao and top Chinese leaders, her office said.
India’s troubled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — under fire from the government’s left-wing allies over a controversial nuclear pact with the United States — is also expected to visit China later this year. Separately, Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee was also slated to visit the Chinese city of Harbin for a trilateral meeting with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, the foreign ministry said.
It will be the third trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers since 2005 to discuss issues of mutual interest. Gandhi’s visit comes amid turmoil within her party over the nuclear accord, which has upset the government’s left party coalition partners who disapprove of New Delhi’s warming relations with the US. “Her trip might be part of a political strategy to appear more balanced in foreign policy as her party has been under siege for the tilt towards the US,” said Brahma Chellaney, strategic studies professor at the Centre for Policy Research. The visit is also seen as an effort to allay Chinese concerns over the government’s growing partnership with Washington.—Agencies