Subramanian Swamy takes off for his 10-day China visit

BJP MP Subramanian Swamy on Saturday left for China on a 10-day visit during which he will meet senior Chinese leaders and discuss issues relating to economic cooperation and national security among others. He is visiting China at the invitation of Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, a leading think-tank of China's Foreign Ministry.

Swamy will also address a university audience in Beijing. He will travel to Xining, the capital of Qinghai province in central China, and from there he will go to Lhasa in Tibet by a bullet train.

"After three nights stay in Lhasa, Swamy will visit the holy sites of Kailash Mansarovar which he got reopened by persuading the Chinese top leader Deng Xiaoping in April, 1981 to permit Hindu pilgrims to visit the holy site that had been banned by China since 1961," Swamy's office said in a statement.

While returning to India, the Rajya Sabha MP will have a stopover at Kathmandu. President Pranab Mukherjee returned from a four-day visit to China yesterday during which he held talks with top Chinese leadership on a range of issues.