A cultural program is to be held in the seaside town of Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu on Friday evening by students of dance group Kalakshetra in the honour of Chinese President Xi Jinping who arrived in Chennai for a two-day 'informal summit' with Narendra Modi​.

A large number of artistes also lined up at the airport waving colourful flags, beating drums and dancing to traditional music to welcome the influential Chinese leader while he was on his way out to go to his hotel.

Narendra Modi tweets out photos of Xi Jinping's arrival inChennai with the caption, "Welcome to India, President Xi Jinping!"in Mandarin. He also wrote the same in English and Tamil. 

Locals hold placards with pictures of PM Modi and ChinesePresident Xi Jinping and traditional folk musicians perform at East Coast Road.

The Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard had deployedwarships at some distance from the shore in Mamallapuram, ahead of the visit.The aim was to provide security from any seaborne threat.

According to reports, the two sides are likely to discussissues relating to Ladakh, China's 5G network policy, counter-terrorism andsustainable marine economy.

Beijing criticised New Delhi's decision to revoke theautonomous status in Kashmir. It singled out India's decision to create aseparate administrative territory in Ladakh, a Buddhist-dominated part ofKashmir, as part of the change.

Earlier, reports had suggested that trade ties and stabilityat the Line of Actual Control (LAC) could be the focus areas of the informalmeet. No Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs), agreements will be signed nor anyjoint communiqué issued.