Li Changchun, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), arrived in Paris Thursday afternoon for a four-day good-will official visit to France.

Li, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, is here at the invitation of the French government and France is the last leg of his four-nation tour, which began on June 21 and has taken him to Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Greece.

During his visit to France, Li is scheduled to meet with French President Jacques Chirac and French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He will also attend a closing reception for "Chinese Culture Year in France" in Paris, a nine-month cultural exhibition gala to which both the Chinese and French sides have attached great importance.

(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2004)