China's premier-in-waiting faces diplomatic test in two Koreas

CHINA'S Vice Premier Li Keqiang, the man likely to replace Wen Jiabao as premier, will visit divided North and South Korea in quick succession from Sunday, raising his profile in managing Beijing's trickiest regional relationship.!

Li will travel first to the North for three days and to the South from yesterday for two days, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters yesterday.!

Li, 56, is favourite to become premier from early 2013, when Wen will step down. His visit to the two Koreas could raise his diplomatic standing but also test his ability to bridge the two sides of tense peninsula a key challenge for Beijing's regional diplomacy.!

Pyongyang has stirred regional tensions with its nuclear arms ambitions, missile tests and deadly confrontations across the divided peninsula last year.!

Beijing has stood by the North as its sole major economic and diplomatic ally, but also sought to build ties with the South, a much more important trade partner, and to revive six-party talks on North Korean nuclear disarmament.!

Li will try to build trust between Pyongyong and Seoul, said the spokeswoman Jiang.!

"China is a common friend of both the north and south sides of the neighbouring peninsula, and we sincerely support the North and the South in reconciling, cooperating and improving relations," she said.!

China is willing to help ease tensions on the peninsula and promote the six-party talks, she added. North Korea walked out of the talks more than two years ago after the United Nations imposed fresh sanctions on it for holding nuclear and missile tests, eroding Beijing's role as a regional broker.!

Last month, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi urged regional powers to restart the moribund talks, which offer North Korea economic and energy aid in return for dismantling its nuclear arms programme. !

China's leaders ended their latest conclave on Tuesday with a decision to hold a Communist Party congress in the second half of 2012 to begin installing successors to Premier Wen and President Hu Jintao's generation. !

Li has made several trips abroad, including to Europe, as part of his grooming as likely next premier. In August, he also visited Hong Kong to announce policies expanding international use of China's yuan currency. Li rose through the Communist Party Youth League, marking him as a protege of President Hu, and later served as Communist Party chief in Liaoning, a northeastern industrial province, and rural Henan province. He was named to the powerful nine-member Party Standing Committee in 2007. Reuters