Palestinian President visits Beijing seeking deeper ties with China

Asia-Pacific, Middle East, News June 15, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

President of Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Beijing on June 13, 2023, for a four-day state visit. Abbas met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the second day of his visits as Beijing has been pushing for the revival of peace talks between Palestine and Israel.

The Palestinian leader was welcomed at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with military honors. During the meeting, President Xi Jinping said that China backs the struggles of the Palestinian people for statehood.

“We are good friends and partners,” Xi told Abbas at the start of their meeting. “We have always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights.”

Abbas said that his administration is looking forward to working closely with China by strengthening cooperation and investments. “We especially appreciate the Chinese side’s commitment to financing a number of development projects presented by Palestine. We wish the speedy dispatch of technical delegations to implement these projects” he said.

China was one of the earliest countries to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine. Beijing has long maintained diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority, particularly after Abbas’s last visit in 2017. China also has strong diplomatic relations with Israel, making it an ideal mediator to host peace talks between the two conflicting states.

*^{Chinese President Xi Jinping held a grand ceremony to welcome Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who is on a four-day state visit to Beijing, China. (Image Credit: Twitter/@SpokespersonCHN)}*

The Palestine-Israel conflict has its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and has remained unsettled. The Israeli-Palestine peace negotiations have been stalled since 2014. The recent wave of clashes between Israel and Palestine over the Gaza Strip and West Bank has resulted in several deaths on both sides.

After providing a successful mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia and helping the two rival states in normalizing their diplomatic relations with each other, China is moving forward to cement its role as a major stakeholder in the region.

Mahmoud Abbas’s visit is an evident sign of China’s increasing influence in the Middle East. While announcing the visit earlier this week, China’s Foreign Ministry said the discussions about peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government are on the agenda.

A high-level official from China’s Foreign Ministry and the special envoy of the Chinese government on the Middle East issue, Zhai Jun, visited Israel and Palestine earlier this year in March 2023.

During his visit, Zhai met with the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) Tor Wennesland. The two officials exchanged views on developing a pathway for resuming negotiation talks between Palestine and Israel in order to restore peace and stability in the region.