Shivshankar Menon arrives in China as PM's special envoy

BEIJING: National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon arrived here on Saturday as a Special Envoy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for talks with top Chinese leaders on a host of bilateral issues, including India's concerns over Beijing's plans to build two nuclear reactors for Pakistan.

During the next two days, Menon is scheduled to meet Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and influential State Councillor Dai Bingguo, who is also the designated Chinese representative to discuss Sino-India border issue, officials here said.

Officials attach a great deal of significance to Menon's upcoming talks with Wen and Yang, considering that the protocol-conscious Chinese leadership prefer to meet leaders of their matching ranks.

Equally important is the fact that Menon is visiting China as Prime Minister Singh's Special Envoy carrying with him a wider mandate to discuss a host of issues with the top Chinese leadership to set out a decisive direction for the bilateral relationship to move ahead.

Officials on both sides said that the two countries have been making conscious efforts to bring about lot of positivity to the bilateral ties since early this year, culminating in successful visit of President Pratibha Patil to China in May.

But China's plans to build two 650 MW nuclear plants for Pakistan without getting the clearance from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) appeared to have pushed New Delhi on the backfoot. China merely informed NSG last month of its plans to build the nuclear reactors after signing a USD 2.5 billion contract.

The visit of Menon, who arrived here ahead of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's July 6-11 tour of China and weeks after Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's trip, is expected to provide valuable inputs on the Chinese thinking over how Beijing wants to forge closer ties with India keeping in mind New Delhi's concerns over its "all weather relationship" with Islamabad.