Xi leaves for three-nation visit, SCO summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Beijing Friday morning for state visits to Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan and attendance at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tashkent.

Xi will visit the three nations at the invitation of Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

Invited by Karimov, Xi will attend the 16th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State in Tashkent.

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; 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. Endi