Chinese president to visit Finland, meet Trump in US

BEIJING, March 30 -- President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Finland before he heads to Florida, the United States, for a China-US presidents' meeting next week, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang announced Thursday.

"At the invitation of President Sauli Niinisto of the Republic of Finland and President Donald Trump of the United States of America, President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Finland from April 4 to 6, and he will meet with President Trump at Mar-a-lago, Florida, the United States from April 6 to 7," Lu announced at a daily press briefing.

Xi's visit to Finland will be his first trip to a European Union member state this year, and also Xi's first visit to northern Europe as president, Lu said.

"This shows the importance China attaches to a future-oriented new type of partnership with Finland, and support for the EU," the spokesperson added.

When commenting on a question regarding China-U.S. trade links, Lu said the two countries' trade and economies were highly complementary. "China hopes to make joint efforts with the United States to expand trade cooperation, properly settle trade frictions through dialogues, and maintain healthy and stable growth of trade and economic ties."

China-US trade in goods amounted to 519.6 billion US dollars in 2016, an increase of 207 times compared with that of 1979 when the two countries set up diplomatic ties, according to Lu.

This will be the first meeting between Xi and Trump since Trump assumed office in January.