China has joined the list of nations that say they want to broker a Middle East peace, proposing a five-point plan for a settlement between Israel and her Arab neighbors.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi presented the plan during his five-day trip to Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Syria, which ended Sunday in Damascus.
Jiechi met with Israeli President Shimon Peres in his Jerusalem office last Thursday, where the two men discussed ways to stop Iran from continuing its nuclear development program, while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continued to denounce Israel at the 'Durban II' racism conference held in Geneva.
The Chinese official assured Peres that, unlike Ahmadinejad, his nation is aware that “the Holocaust of the Jews is an undeniable and unassailable fact.” He also said that Jews and Chinese have historically helped each other.
But despite his soothing words in Jerusalem, Jiechi blamed Israel in a Sunday interview with the official Chinese news agency Xinhua for bringing “heavy casualties and instability to the region” with “attacks on Gaza at the end of 2008.”
The Chinese foreign minister recommended forcing Israel and the PA back to the negotiating table on the basis of “relevant U.N. resolutions, the ‘land for peace’ principle, the ‘Road Map’ plan and the Arab peace initiative.”
In addition, he suggested both parties take “positive measures to restore stability and accumulate mutual trust,” although he gave no indication of how that might be accomplished. Jiechi also called for the “early establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the two countries of Palestine and Israel to live in harmony.”
Moreover, he recommended that the international community “pay due attention to the Middle East issue” by offering support for Israeli-PA talks, inter-PA unity and economic growth.
Finally, the Chinese government official called for comprehensive regional talks to be coordinated between “Palestine and Israel, Syria and Israel, Lebanon and Israel.”
Jiechi also committed his government to “maintain close communication and coordination with parties concerned” with the issue, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
China is Israel’s second-largest bilateral trade partner, outstripped only by the United States. The Asian nation imports military hardware from the Jewish State as well as Israeli agro-technology, including drip irrigation systems and other water technology. In exchange, Israel imports Chinese consumer goods and textiles.