Premier Li is to visit Australia, New Zealand

Premier Li Keqiang is to pay official visits to Australia and New Zealand next week, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The visit will be the first such trip by Chinese premier to the two countries since 2006.

At the invitation of Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English, the premier will visit the two countries from March 22 to March 29, the ministry’s spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a news conference.

In Australia, the premier will also attend the fifth annual meeting between Chinese and Australian prime ministers, Hua added.

China has maintained frequent high-level exchanges with these two most important Oceanic trading partners, both of whom enjoyed trade surplus against China last year.

In April last year, Turnbull made his first visit to China since taking office, just one week before former New Zealand prime minister John Key’s trip to Beijing.

In September, Premier Li met with Turnbull when both leaders attended the East Asia Summit in Laos.