Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian National Authority, arrived in Beijing today for a four-day state visit. Abbas will discuss, among other things, ways to develop China’s peace proposal for Palestine and Israel. The visit will include a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Prior to Abbas’s arrival, Chinese Foreign Ministry press spokesman Wang Wenbin informed a press briefing June 8, that Abbas is an “old and good friend of the Chinese people.”
Abbas’s visit comes as the restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which Xi Jinping facilitated with these two countries at meetings in Beijing March 6-10, has effected a tectonic shift in relations in Southwest Asia. On April 17 of this year, China launched a peace initiative for Israel and Palestine. Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang called, separately, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, and Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki, offering China as a facilitator to aid Palestine and Israel to “resume peace talks.” Qin expressed his concern over rising Israeli-Palestinian tensions, which have resulted in deaths. The last direct peace talks between Palestine and Israel took place in 2014. The talks would involve a “two-state solution.”
In comments to Palestinian news agency Wafa, Abbas Zaki, the head of China relations for the Palestinian party Fatah, said that “there is no security or stability in the Middle East unless a just solution to the issue of the Palestinian people is reached in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions.” Moreover: “There is an expectation that China will have a greater role at the global level, and the more China progresses, the more fairness we will enjoy in Palestine.”
He also spoke of the importance of the Palestinian government joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Increasingly, diplomatic, economic development, and peace proposals for Southwest Asia are going through Beijing.
