Chinese leader arrives in Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria, April 2 (UPI) -- Li Changchun, a member of the Chinese governing committee, finished visits to five countries in North Africa and the Middle East with a stop in Syria.

He arrived in Aleppo on Tuesday and met with Baath Party leaders there before going to Damascus, Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency reported.

Li is a a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. He previously visited Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

In Aleppo, Li remarked that the city was a stop on the Great Silk Road, the ancient trading route between China and the Mediterranean.

Li was invited by the Syrian Baath Arab Socialist Party.