Wen, Manmohan to meet on sidelines of ASEAN summit: China

BEIJING: Amid a war of words between the two countries, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have an "important" meeting in Thailand on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit this week.

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue told reporters here that Wen and Singh will have the meet in Thailand during which they will discuss "bilateral relations, and regional and international issues".

"This meeting between the two prime ministers is a very important one," Hu said.

"There has been good progress in our bilateral relationship and we hope this momentum can be sustained."

The visit comes in the backdrop of Beijing raking up its claim over Arunachal Pradesh questioning Prime Minister Singh's visit there on October 3 and India hitting back on Chinese plans to involve in projects in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

India has maintained that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and the Prime Minister has a right and responsibility to visit the state.

Last week, Wen had expressed his desire to meet Singh on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit beginning on Friday.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit will be followed by a meeting with partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.