BEIJING, Aug. 21 -- Chile's top diplomat arrives in China on Tuesday for a five-day visit that carries him across one of the Southern Hemisphere's most consequential bilateral relationships, and into conversations with a Chinese government that has made Latin America a diplomatic priority at the precise moment Washington has made it a trade-policy target.

Chilean Foreign Minister Francisco Perez Mackenna will pay an official visit to China from August 18 to 22, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian confirmed at a regular press briefing Monday. Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and China's foreign minister, extended the invitation. The two sides, Lin said, will hold "an in-depth exchange of views...