The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced Friday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will visit China next week at the invitation of President Xi Jinping.
“At the invitation of President Xi Jinping, the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, will pay a state visit to China from June 13-16,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying announced in an official statement.
The Chinese government, which has held separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian diplomats, has expressed its willingness to support Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Wang Wenbin, deputy director of the Foreign Ministry’s Information Department, said Abbas “is the first Arab head of state received by China this year, fully embodying the high level of good relations between China and Palestine, which have traditionally been friendly.”
China stands ready to work with Palestine to follow through on the common understandings of leaders of the two countries and take the China-Palestine traditional friendship to new heights: Chinese FM https://t.co/ZmeEXpwBG9 pic.twitter.com/eBxmXsBbEW
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) June 9, 2023
“China has always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights,” Wang Wenbin added at a briefing today, Friday.
Beijing has positioned itself as a mediator in regional conflicts in the Middle East. In March, it brokered the restoration of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, long-time rivals in the Persian Gulf.
According to Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, the Chinese platform for peace negotiations is based on the so-called “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
