Hu should address Parliament: Jyoti Basu

The veteran Marxist leader says that the Chinese president should be invited to address a joint session of Parliament.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who will visit India next month, should be invited to address a joint session of Parliament, Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu said on Sunday.

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"Yes, I think Hu Jintao should be invited to address a joint session of Parliament. It will be better for us. Because he will not speak twice as I have read in the papers," Basu told reporters after the CPI-M's state committee meeting.

During his visit to India in March this year, US President George Bush did not address a joint session of Parliament following protests from Left parties led by the CPI-M. Basu said there was nothing hidden about his party's dislike of the US.

"We look at China one way and the US in a different way. Everybody including the media knows our policy towards the two countries and there is nothing hidden," Basu said. "We welcome whom we like."

Basu, however, said he saw nothing wrong with India having trade relations with the US since such ties existed even with some "enemy" countries.

"Recently, the political counsellor of the US embassy in Delhi called on me and I told him the same thing. I told him that there cannot be any dialogue on politics with him but trade and business could definitely continue."