Air China will launch two direct flights from Wuhan to Paris and Tokyo this year, according to a local government website. Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei province, is a major transportation hub, with several important railway and highway arteries running through it. The city’s airport currently has international flight routes to Seoul in South Korea and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

In a separate development, South Korea will open a consulate general in Wuhan in 2009. It will become the third country to set up a consulate in the city after France and the US.
South Korea is Hubei’s fourth largest trade partner. By the end of 2007, a total of 62 Korean companies had invested in Wuhan with a combined investment of US$217m. Friendship city ties have been established between Wuhan and Cheongju City as well as Hubei’s Jingzhou and Korea’s Gangneung.