Chinese presidential envoy to attend Winter Olympics opening ceremony

Senior Chinese official Han Zheng will attend the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on February 9 as a special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping and at the invitation of South Korean President Moon Jae-in and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, China’s Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.

Han is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

Moon Jae-in, US Vice President Mike Pence, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will attend the opening ceremony, together with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Slovenian President Borut Pahor and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

An assortment of other European heads of state and royals including King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden will also be there.

The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea from February 9 to February 25.

This is the first time South Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics. The 1988 Summer Olympics were held in South Korean capital Seoul.

(CGTN)