Chinese Premier Li Keqiang visits India to seek improved ties after border standoff

• Report rights infringement
• published: 31 Jul 2015
• views: 469

New Delhi - 19 May, 2013 1. Wide of plane carrying Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on tarmac 2. Cutaway of Chinese flag on plane 3. Li getting out of plane, waving and walking down steps 4. Indian delegation waiting to receive Li 5. Li shaking hands with Indian Minister for External Affairs E. Ahamed 6. Chinese flag 7. Li meeting officials 8. Li shaking hands with Ahamed, waving and walking away New Delhi - 18 May, 2013 9. Wide of briefing 10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Syed Akbaruddin, Spokesperson, Indian Ministry of External Affairs: "We think very highly of this gesture because it is our view that high-level political exchanges between our two countries are an important aspect and vehicle for our expanded cooperation." New Delhi - 19 May, 2013 11. Mid of Chinese security 12. Wide of car carrying Li leaving, followed by security 13. Wide of right wing Hindu activists shouting slogans against the Chinese government and burning an effigy of Li 14. Close of protester shouting slogan, UPSOUND: (Hindi) "Chinese Prime Minister, come to your senses." 15. Wide of protesters shouting slogans UPSOUND: (Hindi) "Chinese Prime Minister, go back, go back." STORYLINE: China's new premier visited India on Sunday on his first foreign trip, as the neighbouring nations look to speed up efforts to settle a decades-old boundary dispute and boost economic ties. Li Keqiang's visit comes just weeks after a tense border standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Kashmir. Li was greeted at New Delhi's Palam Airport by India's Minister for External Affairs E. Ahamed. China said Li's choice of India for his first trip abroad since taking office in March shows the importance Beijing attaches to improving relations with New Delhi. Li was to meet with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later on Sunday and attend a dinner hosted by Singh. A spokesman for India's Ministry of External Affairs said on Saturday that "high-level political exchanges between our two countries are an important aspect and vehicle for our expanded cooperation." In last month's border incident, India said that Chinese troops crossed the countries' de facto border on April 15 and pitched camp in the Depsang valley in the Ladakh region of eastern Kashmir. New Delhi responded with diplomatic protests and then moved its soldiers just 300 metres (yards) from the Chinese position. The two sides negotiated a peaceful end to the standoff by withdrawing troops to their original positions in the Ladakh area. India and China have had chilly relations since they fought a brief but bloody border war in 1962. India says China is occupying 38-thousand square kilometres (15-thousand square miles) of its territory in the Aksai Chin plateau in the western Himalayas, while China claims around 90-thousand square kilometres (35-thousand square miles) in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. While China has worked to shore up relationships with Nepal and Sri Lanka in India's traditional South Asian sphere of influence, India has been venturing into partnerships with Southeast Asian nations. Other irritants remain in the bilateral relationship. China is a longtime ally and weapons supplier to Pakistan, India's bitter rival. Also, the presence in India of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile is a source of tension. China accuses the Dalai Lama of wanting to split Tibet off from the rest of China, but he says he seeks more autonomy for Tibetans, not independence. The director of the group Students for a Free Tibet, said on Sunday that New Delhi police had declined permission for Tibetans to hold a demonstration against Li's visit. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/42c7fc20847b10488a3c049e073103c2 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork