Senior CPC official starts South Africa visit

Senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Zhou Yongkang arrived in Johannesburg Wednesday afternoon on an official goodwill visit to South Africa.

Zhou, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, visits South Africa at the invitation of South Africa's ruling party African National Congress (ANC).

Upon his arrival at Johannesburg airport, Zhou said in a written statement that the CPC has close relations with the ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa, and that the two countries have also conducted sound cooperation and coordination in areas like politics, trade and international affairs in the past years.

"I am expecting to meet with South African President Jacob Zuma and other government and party leaders to discuss bilateral relations and major issues of mutual concern," said Zhou.

"I believes that my visit will help deepen China-South Africa friendship, strengthen bilateral strategic partnership and lift party-to-party relations to a new height," Zhao said.

South Africa is the second stop of Zhou's African trip. He arrived after concluding his visit to Sudan.

Source:Xinhua