Arafat Arrives in Beijing for Working Visit

President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority Yasser Arafat arrived here early Friday as guest of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Describing the tour as "a working visit", Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Sun Yuxi told Xinhua that Arafat is to meet Chinese leaders later Friday and brief the Chinese leadership on the current situation of the Middle East.

The lingering Palestinian-Israeli conflict has caused heavy casualties and aroused close attention from the international community.

The Chinese government has repeatedly called for "restraint of the maximum from both Israel and Palestine, and especially Israel, " and urged the two sides to resume negotiations.






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