The visit to the two countries, encompassing a total of four days of official engagements, marks the first time since former Prime Minister António Costa’s 2016 visit to China and President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s 2019 visit to the region.
Accompanying the delegation are the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, who is scheduled to meet his Chinese counterpart today, and the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, alongside AICEP President Madalena Oliveira e Silva.
The official agenda for the Prime Minister kicks off on Tuesday with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Monument to the People’s Heroes in Tiananmen Square, proceeding afterward to the Great Hall of the People.
Besides his meeting with the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping—which holds significant political importance as the Chinese Head of State receives few foreign prime ministers—Luís Montenegro will also meet with Zhao Leji, President of the National People’s Congress.
Later in the afternoon, a working meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang is scheduled, including a ceremony for the signing of legal instruments.
The Portuguese Prime Minister’s visit to China takes place the week following the Beijing meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific.
This meeting was described on Wednesday by the European Union’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, as a “direct challenge” to the rule-based international order, sending “anti-Western signals.”
A source from the Prime Minister’s office contextualized Luís Montenegro’s visit to China within Portugal’s “diplomatic tradition,” noting that all Heads of State and several prime ministers have visited this country, the “second-largest global economy” and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
In addition to high-level political talks, economically, the aim is to improve the trade balance between the two nations, which is “heavily tilted” in Beijing’s favor, with plans to sign certain memoranda of understanding in the agri-food sector.
The Prime Minister will depart Tuesday night for the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR), where he has engagements scheduled for Wednesday morning, before traveling to Japan, with events in Tokyo and Osaka until Friday, returning to Lisbon that night.
