BEIJING: Top foreign policy officials from the Palestinian Authority and four Muslim-majority countries will visit China on Monday and Tuesday, Beijing announced, as the ongoing conflict claims thousands of civilian lives.
The visiting delegation is set to include the foreign ministers of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Indonesia, as well as the secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
“During the visit, China will have in-depth communication and coordination with the joint delegation of foreign ministers of Arab and Islamic countries to promote a de-escalation of the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict, protecting civilians, and justly resolving the Palestinian issue,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in a statement on Sunday.
In Gaza, the government says 12,300 people have been killed in Israel’s relentless aerial bombardment and ground operations, mostly civilians.
Following the outbreak of the war last month, Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, have called for an immediate ceasefire and a “cooling down” of the situation.
China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinians and supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Last month, Wang spoke with the Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki, telling him Beijing “deeply expresses its sympathy with the Palestinian side”.
The PA was meant to be a first step towards an independent Palestinian state.
The delegation is set to arrive in China days after US President Joe Biden argued that the coastal territory of Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank should come under a single “revitalised” administration.
“As we strive for peace, Gaza and the West Bank should be reunited under a single governance structure, ultimately under a revitalised Palestinian Authority,” he wrote in the Washington Post.
China has criticised US support for Israel and denounced the veto of a UN Security Council resolution by the United States, which wanted a call for Israel’s right to defend itself. Beijing’s diplomatic presence in the Middle East has grown in recent years, as it makes efforts to play peacemaker in a range of longstanding regional disputes. — AFP
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