China attaches great importance to the Palestinian issue and will continue to support peace talks, Foreign Minister Qin Gang has told his visiting Palestinian counterpart in Beijing, offering to contribute “Chinese wisdom.”
China has always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate rights, Qin also told Palestine’s Riyad al Maliki, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
“China attaches great importance to the Palestinian issue and has always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights,” Qin said.
He said, “China will continue to support the peace talks, which are the right direction, and will bring Chinese wisdom and vigour to the resolution of the Palestinian issue.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is in Beijing on a three-day state visit in which he hopes to demonstrate that there is Chinese support for the Palestine, after failing to meet with American officials while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly last month.
China’s Foreign Ministry said China was willing to help broker relations between Palestine and Israel that have deteriorated to the lowest level in recent years.
During what is Abbas’ fifth visit to China, he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the Palestinian cause as well as exchange views on regional and international issues of common concern, according to official Palestinian media.
China has historically had a good relationship with Palestine and, since Abbas’ last visit in 2017 it has consistently talked up its capabilities in mediation, although it had little to show in this regard until it brokered a surprise deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties in March.
Xi’s visit to Saudi Arabia is his third journey outside China since Covid-19 pandemic.
Chinese leader calls for granting Palestine “full membership” in United Nations and says Beijing “supports the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
READ: Xi Jinping says China supports Palestine with 1967 borders
‘Closer than brothers’
Chinese envoys occasionally visit Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, but China has traditionally not played a major role in Middle East conflicts, or diplomacy, despite its reliance on the region for oil.
But China looks set to increase its economic presence in the Palestinian territories, with the two countries having agreed in principle over four projects that China will fund in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to Mohammed Mustafa, economic adviser to President Abbas.
“Hopefully, the initial signing will take place [on Wednesday] in the presence of the two presidents,” Mustafa said on Palestinian television earlier on Tuesday.
The projects include a solar power installation, a factory for solar panel production, a steel plant, and road infrastructure development, Mustafa added.
President Abbas is scheduled to attend an event at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guest House on Wednesday, which is often used for such events.
President Xi last December visited Saudi Arabia on an Arab outreach trip that also saw him meet with Abbas and pledge to “work for an early, just and durable solution to the Palestinian issue”.
In an interview with Chinese state news agency Xinhua published this week, Palestinian official Abbas Zaki said China and the Palestinians were “friends closer than brothers”.
“I am very pleased to see that China has been more involved in Middle East affairs after the China-Arab States Summit last year,” he added.
A newspaper with a cover picture of the flag of Iran and Saudi Arabia, is seen in Tehran, Iran March 11, 2023.
By brokering a difficult normalisation deal between Saudis and Iranians, the two Middle Eastern rivals, Beijing has shown that it can be a stabilising force across the turbulent region.
READ: How China’s proactive Middle East policy can shape regional balance
Source: TRT World. 14 June 2023