Palestinian leader meets Chinese President
CHINA: Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Palestinian
leader Mahmud Abbas in Beijing on Monday, with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu due to follow him later this week.
Abbas's three-day trip -- the first by a Middle Eastern leader since
Xi took office in March -- ends Tuesday, overlapping with a five-day
visit to China by Netanyahu that begins in Shanghai on Monday and ends
in the capital.
Chinese media have called Abbas' trip a state visit, while officials
describe Netanyahu's as an "official visit".
Beijing has traditionally remained distant from Middle Eastern
affairs, though in recent years it has begun to take a more active
diplomatic role.
After a full military welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the
People, Xi told Abbas he had "maintained the strategic choice of peace"
and helped "building a country which has received the wide respect and
support of the Palestinian people and international society".
Abbas said: "I appreciate China's high position in the world
nowadays. In recent years all the Chinese governments have adopted wise
policies that have effectively had benefits and avoided harm".
The two sides signed cooperation agreements on economic technical
cooperation and cultural exchange, details of which were not immediately
available.
Ahead of his visit, Abbas told China's Xinhua news agency that he
planned to discuss obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian talks and ask
Beijing to urge Israel to end policies that obstructed the Palestinian
economy.
AFP |