Palestinian, Israeli top leaders' visits show trust in China

Edited and Translated by Yao Chun, People's Daily Online

Two distinguished guests from the Middle East - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - have arrived in China to start their visits. Palestine and Israel have good relations and close cooperation with China in spite of the long distance that separates them from China. Their visits will be warmly welcomed by Chinese government and Chinese people.

This is the first time that Abbas has visited China as the president of Palestine. He is also the first head of an Arabic state visiting China after the new Chinese government was sworn in. It is also Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first visit to a global power except the United States after he was elected as Prime Minister in March. His visit demonstrates China’s role in Sino-Israeli ties.

Palestine is a traditional friend of China. China has heartily sympathized with and given continuous support to Palestine whose people became displaced after their homeland was occupied. The top leaders of China and Palestine have maintained frequent exchanges based on mutual respect and trust.

Sino-Israeli ties have developed rapidly in recent years. In the past 21 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties, the trade volume between China and Israel has increased from 50 million U.S. dollars to 10 billion U.S. dollars, which brings great benefits to the people of these two countries.

It can be predicted that to further boost Sino-Palestinian and Sino-Israeli ties will be the topic of the discussions among the top leaders.

The Palestinian-Israeli problem is a misfortune left by history. The Gaza War in 2012 and Palestine’s bid to join in the United Nations remind the international community that the negative effects of Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the world can’t be ignored in anyway.

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