China says Olmert will visit next week

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will visit China next week to mark the 15-year anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties and to discuss the situation in the Middle East, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Olmert will meet Chinese leaders in Beijing during his Jan. 9-11 trip to "Exchange views in an in-depth way on the Mideast situation," Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular briefing, but did not give any details. "The Chinese and Israeli people share profound friendship," Liu said. (AP)