President Mahmoud Abbas and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping today agreed on the establishment of the Palestine-China strategic partnership. The announcement came as President Abbas held talks with his counterpart Xi in Beijing in a step that underscores the strong relations between both countries. President Abbas expressed his appreciation to China for agreeing to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a dialogue partner pending the approval of the other SCO member states, while considering that SCO would offer the peoples worldwide the equitable opportunity to access development away from hegemony and exploitation. As part of enhancing cooperation with China within the Belt and Road Initiative, President Abbas expressed aspiration for activating the China-Palestine Joint Economic and Trade Committee through the investment insurance and soft loans provided by the Chinese Export and Credit Insurance Corporation (SINOSURE), as he highlighted the importance of establishing a free trade zone between both countries. Commenting on Israel’s complete disinterest in peace, President Abbas stated that the current extremist far-right Israeli government neither believes in peace nor in the realization of the two-state solution in line with international law, elaborating that Israel has been proceeding with colonial settlement expansion, land pillage, forcible expulsions, enactment of racist laws; all of which are an integral part of Israel’s decades-long brutal settler-colonial and apartheid policies against indigenous Palestinians intended to undermine the two-state solution and forcibly displace indigenous Palestinians and steal their land. He expressed appreciation to China for its support to Palestine in international forums as well as for its clear positions on the Palestinian question, manifest in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s 2017 four-point proposal and the 2021 initiatives on it in addition to the three-point vision for the implementation of the two-state solution. Touching upon the intra-Palestinian reconciliation, President Abbas pointed that efforts were still underway to achieve reconciliation and end the division based on the political program of PLO and recognition of PLO as the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which would pave the way towards the formation of a national unity government. He thanked China for supporting the Palestinian people’s inalienable and just rights, Palestine’s application for full membership of the United Nations as well as for offering humanitarian and development support. He reiterated Palestine’s unwavering support to the one-China policy, recognizing Taiwan as an integral part of China, and opposition to politicizing human rights issues. Meanwhile, President Xi, as reported by China Global Television Network (CGTN), hailed the establishment of a Chinese-Palestinian strategic partnership as ‘an important milestone in China-Palestine relations that builds on past achievements and heralds a brighter future.’ He told President Abbas that China is willing to continue to provide assistance to Palestine within its own capabilities to help ease humanitarian difficulties and carry out reconstruction. Xi reiterated China’s firm support for the Palestinian people’s just cause of restoring their legitimate national rights. ‘We have always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights,” Xi told Abbas. “Having encountered epochal global changes and new challenges in the Middle East, China is ready to strengthen its coordination and cooperation with Palestine to promote an all-encompassing, just and longstanding resolution of the Palestinian issue,” Xi added. He reiterated his support to the Palestinian people’s legitimate aspirations to self-determination and the establishment of an independent State. ‘The fundamental solution to the Palestinian issue lies in the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Xi said. He expressed his country’s willingness to play a positive role to help the Palestinians achieve internal reconciliation and promote peace talks with Israel.

Source: En – Palestine news & Information Agency – WAFA