French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin arrived in the Chinese capital Thursday morning, starting a three-day official visit to China.

During his stay in Beijing, Raffarin is scheduled to hold talks or meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-President Zeng Qinghong. They will exchange views on China-France political, economic, trade and cultural cooperation, and relations between China and the European Union.

According to sources with the Foreign Ministry, Wen and Raffarin will also witness the signing of several cooperation accords between the two governments and attend the opening ceremony of an exhibition about France's King Louis XIV in the Palace Museum in central Beijing.

Raffarin will also visit Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, where he is expected to attend a symposium on economic and trade cooperation between the three northeast China provinces and France.

Also in the French prime minister's itinerary is China's economic hub of Shanghai, where he is expected to deliver three speeches to local business leaders and college students, and attend an illuminating ceremony at the city's Oriental Pearl TV Tower, a landmark structure of the metropolis.

As part of the celebrations for the Year of France in China, the tower will be illuminated in blue, white and red -- the three colors of the French national flag.

Raffarin is scheduled to leave Shanghai Saturday at the end of his China visit, the second since 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency April 21, 2005)