BEIJING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- China's new special envoy on the Middle East issue Wu Sike is to visit Egypt, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Russia from June 20 to July 4, focusing on the current situation in the region.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang made the announcement here on Tuesday.

    Wu, former Chinese Ambassador to Egypt, was appointed as the special envoy in March this year to replace Sun Bigan.

    He has been director of the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and also the first Chinese plenipotentiary to the League of Arab States.