Raul Castro, the communist Cuban regime's number-two official, was set to begin an official visit to China on Monday, on a tour also due to take him to communist-ruled Vietnam and Laos, as well as Malaysia, official media reported Friday.

Raul Castro, Cuba's defense minister and the designated sucessor of older brother President Fidel Castro, will be accompanying Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque on the trip according to a statement published in the Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma Friday.

On his first official visit to Cuba in November Chinese President Hu Jintao offered support to the Cuban regime in the form of 16 cooperation agreements, four of which are linked to nickel. Cuba's is the world's number five producer of nickel.