Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat, on an eight-day visit to China, will hold talks with
senior Chinese leaders on stepping up party-to-party ties and further developing Sino-Indian relations.

Karat, who arrived in the Chinese capital Beijing [Images], accompanied by central committee member and former member of Parliament Subhashini Ali, is visiting China as a guest of the International Department of the Communist Party of China, party sources said on Tuesday.

Karat has already met with Chinese scholars at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and visited the Party School
of the CPC, the sources said.

Karat will hold talks on Wednesday with the minister in the International Department of the CPC, Cai Wu, on party-to-party relations.

He is also scheduled to call on a senior Chinese leader on Wednesday, when the two sides will exchange views on
party affairs as well as Sino-Indian ties, sources said.

The sources, however, did not identify the senior Chinese leader that Karat would meet in Beijing.

This is Karat's first foreign visit after he took over as general secretary of the CPI-M. Besides Beijing, the CPI-M delegation will visit east China's Shandong Province and Shanghai, the Communist nation's business hub, during the
eight-day tour.