On the eve of Mukherjee's visit, Beijing said the two countries do not see each other as a threat and it would work towards reaching through dialogue a "fair, reasonable and acceptable" solution to the boundary row, an issue which has often caused stress on bilateral relations with reports of Chinese incursions and its claims over Indian territory.
"The two countries have reached a consensus which is that both are important neighbours and partners to each other. The two countries will not regard each other as a threat," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular media briefing here.
He said both sides attached "great importance" to the visit of Mukherjee, who is making the first trip after becoming the External Affairs Minister in the first high-level contact since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came to China in January giving a greater thrust to development in bilateral relations.
Coming in the midst of warmer ties but marked by occasional boundary irritants, Mukherjee's visit at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi is also the first by an Indian External Affairs Minister since Jaswant Singh undertook the trip in 2002 and the first high-level contact since the Tibet unrest erupted in March.