While claiming "active progress" in resolving the vexed Sino-Indian border issue, China on Monday said President Hu Jintao's visit to India will send an important message to the world that the two countries are "sincere friends and partners."

"We want to send an important message to the international community that China and India are sincere friends, partners for cooperation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu told PTI in Beijing [Images] ahead of Hu's arrival in New Delhi [Images] for his first state visit.

President Hu's visit to India is the first by the Chinese head of state in a decade and is also the first visit at the highest level after both countries established a strategic cooperative partnership oriented towards peace and prosperity, she said.

Asked about the unresolved Sino-Indian boundary issue and China's reported claim on Tawang, a Buddhist city in Arunachal Pradesh, Jiang declined to comment.

However, she claimed that China and India have made "active" progress on the boundary issue. "China and India have made active progress on the issue of resolving the boundary," she said.

Jiang pointed out that in 2003, the Chinese and Indian prime ministers appointed special representatives to explore the resolution of the boundary issue.

In April 2005, both governments signed the 'Agreement on Political Guiding Principles' for settlement of the boundary question.