French president to visit China next week

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron will be on a two-day visit to China to discuss on a wide variety of issues, with Syria and North Korea being on top priorities.

According to local media reports, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has confirmed that the French president will visit the country from January 8-10.

It would be the very first time that Macron would be visiting China, after coming to power in May last year. The French President has already met with the Chinese president Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Hamburg in July last year.

Earlier, Macron said that the war against the terrorist group, Islamic State (IS) in Syria will be won by February.

The visit by Macron assumes significance at a time, when North Korea has been persisting with continued missile tests, putting a question mark on the future of peace and stability in the region.