BEIJING -- Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai began a visit to China Wednesday with talks with Premier Zhu Rongji on the Afghan peace process and possible Chinese aid to rebuild his war-ravaged nation.

Following his midafternoon arrival in Beijing, Karzai was welcomed at the great hall of the people in central Beijing, where he held the early evening discussions with Zhu.

"The Chinese government has followed with great interest the peace and reconstruction process in Afghanistan," Zhu said.

"China is ready to provide assistance to the best of our ability to your effort of reconstruction."

The two leaders also discussed ways to deepen relations between their two countries which share a small, mountainous border.

Karzai flew in from Tokyo, where he won pledges worth 4.5 billion dollars for the reconstruction of his country at an international donors' conference.

"Chinese-Afghan relations are very, very old," Karzai said.

"Maybe we have the modern time of diplomatic state-to-state relations of the past several decades, but the people-to-people relationship goes back into the centuries," he said.

The Afghan leader, who has held power for four weeks, is due to meet Chinese President Jiang Zemin Thursday afternoon after a morning sightseeing trip to the Great Wall.

He will leave late Thursday for Tajikistan, AFP reported.