On December 18, 2007, His Excellency Mr. Zhang Yan, the new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic China, presented his credentials to Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, President of the Republic of India, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

President Patil extended her cordial welcome to Ambassador Zhang Yan and requested the latter to convey her warm greetings and best wishes to Chinese President Hu Jintao. She said India attaches importance to the development of Indo-China relations and she would like to see that cooperation between the two countries in various fields be strengthened so as to benefit both peoples.

Ambassador Zhang Yan conveyed Chinese President Hu Jintao's cordial greetings and best wishes to President Patil and expressed his appreciation and admiration for the striking achievements and developments of India. He said he felt honored to be appointed Ambassador of China to India at this important moment of development of Sino-Indian relations. The new Chinese ambassador said he would exert all his efforts to enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples as well as widen the exchanges and cooperation so as to push the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership between the two countries to a new high.

Ambassador Zhang Yan arrived in New Delhi on December 16, 2007 to take up his new office.