Poland sent fighter jets to escort Xi's plane when it entered the country's airspace. Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were greeted by Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski at the airport.

Upon his arrival, Xi extended sincere greetings and best wishes to the Polish people.

Noting that Poland is among the first countries to recognize and establish diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China, Xi said in a written statement that the two countries have always treated each other with respect and equality over the past 67 years since they forged diplomatic ties in October 1949.

China attaches great importance to the ties with Poland and hopes to consolidate traditional friendship, expand cooperation in all fields and lift the bilateral relations to a new height, according to Xi.

During his stay in Warsaw, Xi is scheduled to hold talks with Polish President Andrzej Duda on enhancement of bilateral ties.

He will also meet with Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo and attend a luncheon hosted by Polish parliamentary leaders.

The two sides are expected to sign agreements in areas such as finance, civil aviation, science and technology, and education.

Since the two countries lifted their bilateral ties to strategic partnership in 2011, their relations have been on a fast track.

With bilateral trade reaching 17.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2015, Poland has been China's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), while China has been Poland's largest trading partner in Asia.

More than 60,000 Chinese tourists travelled to Poland last year, up from 7,700 in 2004. Five Confucius Institutes have been set up in the country.

"China-Poland ties are at a historical high," said Chinese ambassador to Poland Xu Jian.

The speaker of the lower house of the Polish parliament attended China's V-Day celebrations in Beijing in September 2015. Duda paid a state visit to China in November last year.