Canadian prime minister arrives for five-day China visit

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrived in Beijing Tuesday evening, kicking off a five-day official visit to China.

The tour marked Harper's second China visit since he came to office in 2006.

During the visit, President Hu Jintao and top legislator Wu Bangguo will meet with Harper respectively, and Premier Wen Jiabao will hold talks with him.

He will also attend the fifth Canada-China Business Forum with Vice Premier Li Keqiang.

Besides Beijing, Harper will also visit the southern province of Guangdong and southwest municipality of Chongqing, and while there attend a signing ceremony of a cooperative program for giant pandas.

Demonstrating the importance of his second visit, Harper brought a large delegation of cabinet ministers and lawmakers, as well as a large business delegation with representatives from the energy, transport, and education sectors.

China attaches great importance to Harper's visit, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said last week when asked to comment on the visit.

Liu said China is ready to make joint efforts with Canada during the visit to enhance their political mutual trust and expand practical cooperation so as to further promote the bilateral strategic partnership.