China’s Vice President Han Zheng is scheduled to meet Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa today, according to the Lusa news agency.
A statement released by Rebelo de Sousa’s office says the meeting will “aim to continue deepening the excellent relations between the two countries” and cover “issues on the bilateral agenda between the People’s Republic of China and Portugal”.
The Ukraine war is also a possible topic of discussion, Lusa suggests. Portugal’s president told media on Saturday that Beijing had taken “a more intensive role in relation to this problem, and Portugal is an important platform for dialogue … we maintain dialogue on everything that may in the next moment, in time, help to build peace”.
[See more: Portugal’s last governor says Lisbon has ‘a privileged knowledge’ of China thanks to Macao]
Lisbon has previously expressed concern about Beijing’s close ties with Moscow and said it would “review” its relationship with Beijing if it supplied arms to Russia.
The meeting with the Chinese vice premier comes in the wake of talks last month between Rebelo de Sousa and the chief executive of Macao, Ho Iat Seng.
Ho was on his first international trip since the pandemic and also met with Prime Minister António Costa.
