Vajpayee meets Jiabao

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee undertook a six-day visit to China from June 22 to June 27 during which he met his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao and the Chinese President Hu Jintao.He also met with former Chinese President Jiang Zemin, who is still influential in Chinese politics due to his top military post as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, the apex body of the world's largest standing army, the People's Liberation Army.

Atal and Wen had two rounds of talks lasting over two hours on June 23 and reached wide-ranging consensus on sensitive bilateral issues, including the boundary dispute, Sikkim and Tibet. Later they signed the first-ever Sino-Indian joint declaration. The visit was the first by an Indian Prime Minister in a decade.

In an implicit recognition of Sikkim being a part of India, China agreed to have border trade through the Northeastern state while India, in a careful formulation, recognised the autonomous region of Tibet as part of Chinese territory. The two countries agreed to appoint a special representative to explore from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship a framework on the boundary settlement. The two sides also condemned terrorism in 'any form' and declared that the struggle between the international community and global terrorism is a "comprehensive and sustained one", with the ultimate objective of eradication of the menace "in all regions".

Vajpayee renewed his invitation to Wen, 18 years his junior, to visit India at his convenience. The latter accepted the invite.