Li Peng, chairman of China's National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, left on the morning of November 15 by a special plane to start an official good-will visit to six African and Asian countries.

The six countries are Mauritius, South Africa, Kenya, Israel, Palestine and Oman.

Li is making the visit to the above six countries at the invitation of the Government of Mauritius, Speaker Frene Ginwala of the National Assembly and Chairman Pandor of the National Council of Provinces of South Africa, Speaker Francis Ole Kaparo of the National Assembly of Kenya, Speaker Avraham Burg of the Knesset of Israel, President Yasser Arafat of Palestine and Chairman Hamoud Bin Abdulla Al-Harthy of the State Council of Oman.

Li's entourage incudes his wife Zhu Lin; He Chunlin, secretary- general of the NPC Standing Committee; Yin Kesheng, member of the NPC Standing Committee and vice-chairman of the NPC Ethnic Affairs Committee; Song Qingwei, a NPC deputy and vice-chairman of NPC Foreign Affairs Committee; Pang Xianzhi, member of the NPC Standing Committee and member of the NPC Committee for Internal and Judical Affairs; Zhang Jianmin, NPC deputy and chairman of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee; Meng Fulin, NPC deputy of chairman of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee; Lu Congmin, NPC deputy and deputy secretary- general of the NPC Standing Committee; Ji Peiding, vice-foreign minister; and Wu Wenchang, director of the NPC Chairman's Office.

Those who saw Li and his party off at the Great Hall of the People included Tian Jiyun, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee; Luo Gan, state councillor; Hu Guangbao, deputy director of the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Yu Youmin and Jiang Yunbao, deputy secretaries- general of the NPC Standing Committee; Wang Yingfan, vice-foreign minister and diplomatic envoys in Beijing of the six Afro-Asian countries.