Chinese Premier Li Likely to Visit Hokkaido in May

April 9, 2018

Beijing- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is arranging a trip to Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, to attend a forum of local government leaders when he visits Japan in May, informed sources said Sunday.

The forum of Japanese prefectural governors and Chinese province leaders is scheduled to be held in Sapporo, capital of Hokkaido.

The forum, designed mainly to discuss exchanges between regions in Japan and China, was held for the first time in 2012 in Tokyo. The coming session will be the third meeting, following one held in Beijing in 2014.

Li plans to visit Japan for the first time since taking office in 2013, for a three-way summit meeting among Japan, China and South Korea being arranged for May 9.

He will also hold bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. They are expected to reach a formal agreement to start the operation of a naval and air liaison mechanism aimed at preventing unintended clashes between their countries in and over the East China Sea. Jiji Press