Tuesday, December 21 2004 16:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beijing: China today (Dec 21, 2004) said it attached high importance to the upcoming visit of the Chief of Army Staff General N C Vij to the Communist nation, which will be conducive for the establishment of mutual trust and strengthening of overall bilateral ties.

"We warmly welcome the visit by India's Chief of Army Staff. It is a very important visit in the relationship between the Chinese and Indian armed forces," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said.

It will be conducive for the establishment of mutual trust in all fields, including the military field, Liu said.

The spokesman said Gen Vij would meet a number of Chinese leaders, both from the Government and military.

"We believe that the visit will be conducive for the further development of bilateral relations," he said.

Vij would be paying an official visit to China from Dec 22 to 29 and will have high-level talks on ways to enhance trust and confidence between the militaries of the two countries so as to develop bilateral relations as a whole, official sources said.

The visit by Vij will be the first by an Indian Army Chief in over a decade to China. The last Indian Army Chief to visit China was General B C Joshi, who was here in July 1994.