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China appreciates India's hand of friendship to Pak
-by Vikas Khanna

          Beijing, June 23: China has once again ppreciated the recent peace overtures by India and Pakistan, saying that this would greatly enhance peace and stability in the region. The Indo-Pakistan relations came for discussions when the visiting Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao at the start of his six- day official visit. Talking to reporters after the meeting, which was followed up with delegation-level talks, Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said Wen Jiabao appreciated the Indian Prime Minister for extending a hand of friendship to Pakistan.

          Jiabao said China was interested in a peaceful South Asia, which could contribute to stability in the region and the rest of the world. There has been a thaw in relations between the two nuclear rivals since Vajpayee extended the hand of friendship to Pakistan during his visit to the troubled Jammu and Kashmir state in April this year. Since then the two countries have announced several measures, but talks remain elusive. Sinha said Vajpayee also expressed India's disappointment that the cross-border terrorism continued in the region even after he made peace moves. India says that Pakistan should create a conducive atmosphere to pave the way for talks, stalled since the attack on parliament. China has maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral dispute and has to be solved by the two countries peacefully.

China, India to ease visa curbs (Go To Top)

          Beijing, June 23: China and India have agreed to enhance efforts for settlement of the border dispute and softening visa restrictions between the two countries, a foreign news agency reported Monday. Both countries reached the agreement after talks Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had with his Indian counterpart AB Vajpayee. Both leaders agreed to taking confidence building measures and establishing economic relations, Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told newsmen after the talks.

No more a Forbidden City for commoners (Go To Top)

          Beijing, June 23: Beijing's biggest attractions for the tourists are its relics of imperial power and extravagance. And the greatest of these is the Forbidden City, now known as the Palace Museum, which is a treasure trove of the imperial Chinese architecture. It was from here that 24 emperors ruled China for about 560 years. It was first built between 1406 and 1420 under the early Ming Dynastry. But most of what we see today belongs to the Qiong Dynasty that ruled from 1644 till 1911 when the imperial government was overthrown and a republic estabished. It was called the Forbidden City because nobody other than the Emperor, his wives, concubines and eunuchs had access to it. Spread over an area of 720,000 square metres, the Forbidden City is the largest and the most complete complex of ancient palatial structures. It is said to have 9,999 rooms. It houses a great variety of rare cultural relics and works of ancient Chinese arhitecture art. There are three public halls in which the emperors used to conduct important state ceremonies. Globally noted for its magnificence, the Forbidden City attracts a large number of tourists.