China supports an independent Palestine

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Monday in Beijing. The latter expressed his country’s support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

The Chinese foreign ministry reported Jinping saying to Abbas that “China is insistent on Palestine’s independence and peaceful co-existence with Israel.”

Chinese media reported Xi Jinping as saying, “It is an inescapable right that the Palestinian people are able to build their independent state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital.”

He said that the state must enjoy “full sovereignty and this was a crucial issue in reaching an agreement for the Palestinian cause.”

On negotiations, Jinping said that they have to continue on the principle of “peace for land,” with more support for the peace process created by internal Palestinian unity.

According to the Chinese foreign ministry, both presidents signed cooperation agreements on several issues including education, technology and the economy. No details of the agreements were disclosed.

Abbas met the Chinese president just one day before the visit of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Beijing.

Netanyahu is due to arrive in Shanghai on Tuesday and will travel to Beijing on Wednesday, while Abbas is due to finish his visit today (Tuesday).

To prepare for the visits, the Chinese envoy to the Middle East met Palestinian and Israeli officials at the end of last month.