China's No. 2 man Li Peng may visit Japan in the spring as part of bilateral efforts to secure medium- and long-term stability in the often prickly relations between the two nations, informed sources said Thursday.
The former Chinese premier and current chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress was invited by House of Representatives Speaker Tamisuke Watanuki and will arrive, at the earliest, in early April.
Li's previous trip to Japan was as premier in autumn 1997. Li took the top legislative post after Zhu Rongji succeeded him as premier in the spring of 1998. Li is ranked second in the Chinese Communist Party's hierarchy after Jiang Zemin, president and party general-secretary.