Indian envoy meets China's new leaders

India's envoy to China S Jaishankar met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang at a reception hosted by the new leadership to interact with the Beijing-based diplomats on Wednesday.

Jaishankar met Xi, Li and Vice President Li Yuanchao and exchanged pleasantries.

The Indian envoy described the meeting as “very pleasant” as it provided an opportunity to meet all the three top Chinese leaders.

His meeting with Xi followed the first meeting between Xi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in March on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Durban.

The new Chinese leaders, who took over power in March in the once-in-a decade power transfer, met with 180 foreign ambassadors and representatives of international organisations based in Beijing.

During the 160-minute group meeting in the Great Hall of the People, Chinese leaders asked the ambassadors and representatives to convey their greetings to their leaders and thanked them for promoting understanding and cooperation between China and the outside world.

The Chinese leaders underscored the country's commitment to pursuing a path of peaceful development and an open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win results, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

They pledged to follow the principle of peaceful coexistence and develop friendly cooperation with all countries and international organisations in the world.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also attended the meeting.