Chinese prime minister visits Czech republic

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was expected in the Czech capital Thursday for talks with Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek and to meet Czech businessmen. The talks are expected to focus on bilateral, mostly economic, issues, as well as on China's relations with the European Union. Wen, who arrives for a two-day visit, is also scheduled to meet with President Vaclav Klaus on Friday, the second day of his visit.

Ahead of Wen's visit, human right activists, members of Amnesty International and the Olympic Watch, on Wednesday protested human rights violations in China, calling on Paroubek and Klaus to address the issue during their talks with the Chinese prime minister. The Czech Republic is the third stop of Wen's European trip, after France and Slovakia. He is scheduled to wind up his trip in Portugal later in the week. The Czech Republic and Slovakia, once members of the Czechoslovak federation, which broke up peacefully in 1993, joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, reports the AP. I.L.