Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing on Thursday afternoon for a visit to Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus. [Special coverage]
Xi's visit to Kazakhstan is at the invitation of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
At the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi will visit Russia from May 8 to 10 and attend the ceremony to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Great Patriotic War in Moscow.
Xi will pay a state visit to Belarus from May 10 to 12 at the invitation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Xi's entourage includes his wife Peng Liyuan; Wang Huning, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Fan Changlong, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission; Li Zhanshu, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and director of the General Office of the CPC Central Committee; and State Councilor Yang Jiechi.
