Hu, who arrived in New Delhi late on Monday for a four-day visit -- the first by a Chinese president in a decade and the second ever -- was given a ceremonial, military welcome at the British-built president's palace ahead of talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Both Asian giants are keen to develop their relationship, which is now marked by burgeoning two-way trade. But ties have been dogged by mistrust since a brutal border war of 1962, and they are still overshadowed by disputes over their frontier.

No major agreements were are expected during Hu's visit.

"China and India are friendly countries and the exchanges of friendship between our two peoples date back centuries," Hu told reporters after the welcoming ceremony.

"So the purposes of my visit to India is to strengthen our friendship, increase our mutual trust, expand our cooperation and chart a course for the future," he said, speaking through a translator.

Hu said he was looking forward to "deep-going" discussions with Indian leaders on issues of shared interests and working with them to further develop a strategic partnership.

"We have differences, but we want to build a cooperative relationship that is as wide and as deep as possible so that these differences lose their salience," a senior Indian foreign ministry official said.

Tension over the border was stirred last week when China's ambassador restated his country's claim to India's remote northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The two countries' Himalayan border has never been demarcated.