Chinese top legislator Li Peng and Israeli Knesset (parliament) Speaker Avraham Burg Monday exchanged views on how to further the parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.

Welcoming Li's visit to Israel, Burg said the Jewish and Chinese nationals have very ancient civilizations, and the exchange of visits and contacts between the National People's Congress of China and Israel's Knesset will help promote cooperation between the two countries and the two peoples.

China is big and influential country in the world and all the Knesset members and the Israeli people have a common desire for further strengthening the cooperations with China, Burg added.

For his part, Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), said that the NPC and the Knesset are the representatives of the peoples of the two

countries and their contacts will undoubtedly be conducive to promoting Sino-Israeli relations.

Recalling the Jewish and Chinese histories, Li, who arrived in Jerusalem Thursday on a week-long visit, said that both the Chinese and the Jews had a similar fate in the past and suffered a lot during the World War II.

During the World War II, about 6 million Jews lost their lives in Europe, while millions of Chinese people were killed by the Japanese aggressor troops, Li said, adding that the peoples of

China, Israel as well as the whole world will never forget the historical lesson and never let that happen again.

Li also briefed Burg on China's national construction over the past 50 years and structure of the NPC.