BEIJING – China has offered to facilitate efforts for peace talks betweenPalestine and Israel in order to prevent the intensifying conflict fromescalating.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang extended the offerduring separate calls to Palestinian and Israeli counterparts. Thedevelopment comes after Beijing hosted successful peace talks between SaudiArabia and Iran, restoring their bilateral relations after a hiatus ofseveral years.
In his telephonic conversation with Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs EliCohen, Qin Gang said that China is concerned about the current tensionbetween Israel and Palestine, “and the pressing priority now is to bringthe situation under control and prevent the conflict from escalating oreven getting out of control”.
“All parties should stay calm and exercise restraint, and refrain from anyradical or provocative words and actions. The fundamental way out is toresume peace talks, and implement the two-state solution. It is never toolate to do the right thing. China encourages Israel and Palestine to showpolitical courage, and take a step forward to resume peace talks, and Chinais ready to facilitate efforts in this direction,” read the statementissued by the office the Chinese foreign ministry.
The Chinese minister informed his counterpart that President Xi Jinping hadproposed the Global Security Initiative, and “China believes that the keyto resolving the Israel-Palestine question is upholding the vision ofcommon security”.
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He said China has no selfish interests on this issue, and only hopes thatIsrael and Palestine can coexist peacefully and safeguard regional peaceand stability.
In reply, Eli Cohen thanked China for its willingness to support thesettlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Israel is committed topromoting deescalation of the situation, but it seems difficult to solvethe problem any time soon. Israel attaches importance to China’s influence,closely follows the Iranian nuclear issue, and expects China to play apositive role.
