The Hindu : National : Manmohan, Wen may meet during ASEAN summit

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 06, 2004

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National

Manmohan, Wen may meet during ASEAN summit

By Amit Baruah

NEW DELHI, OCT. 5. The Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, are likely to meet on the sidelines of events linked to the 10th Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Vientiane, Laos on November 29-30.

It will be the first meeting of the heads of government of the two countries since the Congress-led Government came to power in May. The Foreign Ministers, Natwar Singh, and Li Zhaoxing, have already met, as have Special Representatives, J.N. Dixit, and Dai Bingguo, to discuss the boundary issue from a political perspective.

While Dr. Manmohan Singh is scheduled to go to Laos for the ASEAN-India summit meeting, Mr. Wen will attend the "ASEAN plus three" (ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea) summit and the ASEAN-China meeting in Vientiane.

Last year, the Indian and Chinese leaders met on the sidelines of the ninth ASEAN summit in Bali, Indonesia on October 8. South Block sources said preparations for the Manmohan-Wen meeting were on.

New Delhi is getting ready to receive Tang Jiaxuan, a member of the State Council, the highest executive organ of the Chinese Government. He is expected by the month-end.A former Foreign Minister, Mr. Tang is among the five State Councillors.. The State Councillor associated with foreign policy is placed above the Foreign Minister in hierarchy and comes below the Premier.

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