China’s No 2 comes calling

China's No 2, Wu Bangguo, will arrive in New Zealand this month for the next round of what is called in Beijing "China's leadership diplomacy".

Wu is chairman of the ruling National Peoples Congress.

On the agenda will be talks on issues such as China's relationship with Taiwan, North Korea, the South Pacific and regional economic developments.

New Zealand's free-trade agreement is not expected to form part of the official agenda though the talks begin in Wellington next week. But China-based officials say he will be sufficiently briefed to pick up on any issue that might arise in the bilateral relationship.

Wu is expected to emphasise a win-win co-operative relationship characterised by complementarity of the two economies.

The visit was announced inadvertently by China specialist Jean-Christophe Iseux at a recent China Forum in Auckland.