Israel Regets Radar System CancellationVice-Premier Qian Qichen told senior Israeli minister Shimon Peres in Beijing Thursday that he hopes Israel and Palestine use their wisdom to continue negotiating for the earliest possible solutions to their differences.He reiterated that China will continue to help. The minister also reviewed with Chinese officials reasons Israel cancelled an early-warning radar system and discussed working together on a model farm in western China. Qian added Thursday that the restoration of Palestinian people's national rights is consistent with United Nations resolutions. Restoring those rights is also a consensus reached by Israel and Palestine and supported internationally, he said in a meeting with Peres, the Israeli regional co-operation minister. Peres, who arrived on Wednesday, briefed Qian on recent Camp David talks, the latest development in the Middle East peace negotiations,and Israel's views on the matter. He said he hopes China would play bigger role in the peace talks. China believes that as long as the two parties are honest, practical, trusting and respectful of UN resolutions as well as the "land for peace'' principle, they will overcome difficulties, said Qian. Peres also held a press conference yesterday, expressing "deepest regrets'' for his country's cancellation of selling a US$250 million Phalcon early-warning radar system to China last month -- under pressure from the United States. "It was an extremely unpleasant experience,'' said Peres. "I express my deepest regrets for what had happened, and we shall look for ways and means to continue our co-operation in the future,'' Peres said. "You know it (cancellation) wasn't necessarily our own choice,'' he said. "We were forced into doing it.'' Following Barak's July announcement of cancellation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said it is important for China to buy defence equipment and that "no other country has the right to interfere in China's bilateral relations with other countries.'' Peres also proposed that Israel work more with China to develop its west. "I understand development of western China to be one of the important items in the coming five years, and I propose that a delegation of Israeli industrialists and investors go to west China to discuss the possibilities of co-operation,'' he said in answering a China Daily question. Israel proposed building a model farm for modern agriculture in the west, similar to one near Beijing, Peres added. Israel has been active in the agricultural and high-tech development of China's western areas, said Israeli Embassy spokesman Amir Sagie, noting an irrigation system factory in Gansu Province, a joint-venture cotton picking machine factory in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. |
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