Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji will pay an official visit to the People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Republic of India from January 11 to 18 at the invitation of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Zhu's visit to India will take place little more than a week after he received Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in Beijing.
"As to whether there are any messages to be passed, I should say that the message is we hope that they will reduce the tension through peaceful negotiations," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said at a regular briefing.
"I think this is in the fundamental interest of the two countries. It is also the common aspiration of the international community," he said.
Tension between India and Pakistan has been mounting since a deadly December 13 attack on the New Delhi parliament, which India blames on Islamic militant groups with links to Pakistan.
The two South Asian countries have been building up forces along their common border and exchanging fire in the hotly disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
(Xinhua News Agency January 9,2002)
