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Mamata to visit China soon

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, will visit China ‘soon in the coming months’, said Ma Zhanwu, Chinese consul general and his…

Mamata to visit China soon

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. (Photo: IANS/File)

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, will visit China ‘soon in the coming months’, said Ma Zhanwu, Chinese consul general and his country will again extend invitation to Banerjee to visit China and the dates for the proposed visit were being worked out, at a press conference on Friday.

It may be recalled that the CM’s visit to China in the month of June was cancelled at the last moment. In order to arrange for the visit this time, officials from the Chinese Consulate approached the CM’s office last month.

Elaborating on the topic, Zhanwu said, “Our colleagues have contacted the chief minister’s office last month and a visit might be planned shortly in the coming months.”

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Talking about the reasons for cancellation of the CM’s visit last time, the consul general informed that due to important meetings of some of the departments in China, the visit could not take place.

As the officials who would be meeting CM remained undecided, the visit had to be cancelled on the scheduled date, he said. Banerjee had herself said “the political meetings at the appropriate level could not be confirmed” as a result of which she was “compelled” to cancel her visit.

The Indian Ambassador in China could not give any confirmation either to Union External Affairs Ministry or the state government about the proposed political exchange programme with Chinese government representatives and Communist Party of China leaders, officials said.

She was scheduled to fly to Beijing via Singapore and stay there till 27 June. Then she was to fly to Shanghai and return to Kolkata on 30 June.

According to Banerjee’s itinerary, she was supposed to have a series of meetings with political leaders in Beijing while in Shanghai her meetings were focussed on business.

In 2017, Banerjee cancelled her trip to China over Doklam standoff as the Centre had raised objections.

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