Putin starts China visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing Tuesday morning, kicking off a state visit to China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gets off a plane after arriving in Beijing, capital of China, June 5, 2012, kicking off a three-day state visit to China.  [Ding Lin/Xinhua]

During his tour, made at the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao, Putin will attend the 12th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to be held in Beijing on Wednesday and Thursday.

In addition to talks with Hu, Putin is scheduled to meet with Chinese leaders including Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress; Premier Wen Jiabao; Vice President Xi Jinping and Vice Premier Li Keqiang.

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Putin chose China as one of the first nations to visit in his third term as president, which shows relations between Russia and China have reached unprecedented high levels.

Top leaders of the two countries are expected to discuss the expansion of bilateral cooperation in various fields, Lavrov said in an interview.

Officials from both Russia and China are going to sign a joint communique on relations and their entrepreneurs will sign a number of agreements, the foreign minister added.