The First Minister will visit China next month in an effort to boost Scotland's trade and cultural links with the country.

Nicola Sturgeon will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong between April 9 and 13 against the backdrop of a 40% rise in exports from Scotland to China last year.

She will meet with senior Chinese government representatives and businesses as well as attend education showcases and other cultural engagements.

Last week, it was announced that the first direct Scotland-China commercial air link will begin from Edinburgh Airport in June.

Sturgeon last visited China in 2015 and met the country's vice premier, Liu Yandong, in Edinburgh last year.

The SNP leader also signed a £10bn memorandum of understanding with a firm owned by the Chinese state but the deal later collapsed.

The First Minister insisted she would also "continue to talk about the importance of equality of opportunity and respect for human rights" when meeting state officials.

She said: "I am delighted to be visiting China to promote the long-standing friendship between our two countries.

"Since my last visit three years ago, the economic and cultural links between Scotland and China have gone from strength to strength, underlined by the recent strong export figures and the new direct Edinburgh-Beijing flight route announced last week.

"As the world's second largest economy, there are huge opportunities for Scottish companies to work with China.

"I will be travelling with the message that Scotland is a fantastic place to invest, to do business, to study and to visit on holiday."

Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer said: "Surely the Scottish Government realise by now that a few words at the end of a trade meeting make absolutely no difference to the Chinese regime's human rights abuses?

"We've seen a Nobel Peace Prize laureate dying in hospital after years of heavy guard, the kidnapping and torture of democracy campaigners and the ongoing destruction of the Tibetan culture and people.

"With President Xi having ditched term limits and set himself up with an iron grip on power, now is not the time for Scotland to mince words in the hope of securing a few business deals.

"We need to face up to China's growing soft power base here in the UK, including their deeply controversial and widely condemned Confucius Institutes at Scottish universities and now at Edinburgh Zoo."