Chinese Embassy officials told The Indian Express tonight they had asked for an appointment with Sonia before Yang left Beijing — while his schedule was being prepared — but had not heard from her office until late tonight.

In his first trip to India, the Minister has kept tomorrow morning aside for “sightseeing”, said officials, and will deliver a lecture on “India-China relations” in the afternoon.

After a meeting with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Yang denied that Beijing had attempted to block consensus at the NSG. “Facts speak louder than these reports,” he said. “We didn’t do anything to block it (NSG consensus). We played a constructive role. So I was really surprised by some reports.” He said that China has “always” worked with responsibility and towards consensus both at IAEA and NSG.

At the NSG, while Austria and Ireland were holdout countries, the Chinese delegation threatened to return home arguing that a consensus should not be rammed down. New Delhi had to issue a demarche to the Chinese envoy in Delhi — at 3 am on Saturday — and the same was communicated to Beijing late on Friday night. After the consensus, China said it hoped the decision would stand the test of time and that the NSG would address “aspirations” of all parties (read Pakistan) seeking peaceful use of nuclear power. National Security Advisor M K Narayanan had made the government’s views public that New Delhi was “surprised” at Beijing’s behaviour and would express “disappointment” with Yang.

While Mukherjee raised the issue of China’s role at the NSG, sources said the Minister’s meeting with the Prime Minister was “cordial”.

The sense of disappointment is deep within the UPA and the Congress, especially since party president Sonia Gandhi has visited China twice in the last one year. Sonia and son Rahul visited China in October 2007. And last month, she, along with Rahul and daughter Priyanka Vadra, were guests of the Chinese government for the Olympics inaugural. They met Chinese President Hu Jintao; the Congress and the Communist Party of China signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance regular visits and promote closer interaction. A number of high-level visits between the two sides have taken place in the four years, including one by President Hu Jintao and another by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Several senior leaders from India visited China this year with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in January, followed within a few months by Mukherjee in May.