Mr Ban is expected to thank China for its support for his candidacy
South Korea"s foreign minister and next UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is due to visit China on Friday for talks on the North Korea crisis.
He is set to meet President Hu Jintao, China"s envoy to Pyongyang Tang Jiaxuan and Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

Discussions will focus on the stalled six-party talks and ways of defusing current tensions in the region, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Mr Ban has pledged to play an active part in resolving the crisis.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Joanchao told reporters the government wanted to "strengthen the co-operation with [South Korea] to promote the resumption of the six-party talks [and] relax the current tensions".

He said Beijing hoped Mr Ban"s visit could help "achieve the objective of the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and preserve peace and stability in north-east Asia".

On Tuesday, Mr Ban said he intended to appoint a special envoy to North Korea when he took over as secretary general in January 2007.

"I intend to seek an active role for the peaceful resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue," he said in a speech.

Mr Ban is expected to thank China - a permanent member of the UN Security Council - for its support of his candidacy to replace Kofi Annan as head of the UN.

He is due to do the same when he moves on from China to visit Russia and France, which are also permanent Security Council members, next week.

The South Korean news agency, Yonhap, said Mr Ban was making the visit to China in his capacity as the next UN secretary general, but this was contradicted by other officials who said he was going as the country"s foreign minister.