Wang Shijie, China's special envoy to the Middle East, who visited Israel and Palestine from May 18 to 22, described his trip as an effort to promote an early resumption of peace talks between the two nations.

Wang said at the news briefing that he had met with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Palestinian National Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath. He said he had put forward China's proposal with regard to the peace process and the "Road Map" peace plan during his meetings.

As the first element of the proposal, China says it welcomes and supports the "Road Map" peace plan for the Middle East, officially announced by the "Quartet", believing that the "road map" is positive in content and provides a sound basis for the resumption of talks between Israel and Palestine. It is hoped that the two sides will seize this opportunity and take concrete measures to cooperate with the peace-making efforts of the international community and solve the question of Palestine at an early date.

Second, says China, it is time that both Israel and Palestine officially announce their acceptance of the "road map" plan and implement it as soon as possible. The top priority is for both sides to stop the trade of violence and revenge promptly so as to pave the way for the resumption of the talks and conclusion of an agreement.

"Israel should withdraw its troops to the position on September 28, 2000, end military strikes, political isolation, economic blockade against Palestine and the policy of 'targeted assassination', freeze the construction of Jewish settlements, ease humanitarian crisis in Palestine and restore the freedom of movement of Chairman Yasser Arafat."

"In the meantime, Israel's security concerns should be fully guaranteed. The Palestinian National Authority is obliged to take effective measures to stop extremist and violent activities. China stands for an early establishment of an independent state of Palestine and encourages democratic elections as well as its political, financial, economic, judicial and administrative reforms. The Palestinian people's right to choose a political system independently and the legitimate leaders selected by the Palestinian people through democratic elections should be respected."

As for problems that might crop up in the process of implementing the "road map", China maintains that the two sides should seek negotiated settlement on the principles of openness, consultation on equal footing, mutual understanding and accommodation, and tackling the easier problems first.

China's third point of the proposal is that in order to ensure the fulfillment of the "road map" plan, a fair, authoritative and effective international supervisory mechanism should be set up as early as possible.

For the fourth point, China says it is essential to resume the negotiations between Israel and Syria and between Israel and Lebanon at an early date on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the principle of "land for peace" laid down at the Madrid Peace Conference as well as the agreements and consensus reached by all parties so as to arrive at a final solution acceptable to all parties and eventually realize a comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East.

And in its last point, China says it is the shared responsibility and duty of the international community to bring about peace and stability in the Middle East. The international community should enhance input to the Middle East question. The United Nations should play a larger role.

China also proposes to convene an international conference on the Middle East question as soon as possible with the participation of the five permanent members of the Security Council and all the parties concerned. China is ready to get actively involved in the international efforts to promote the Middle East peace process.

Wang said China has always closely followed developments in the Middle East, and been deeply concerned about the conflict. China believed that it is in the fundamental interests of the people in the region and conducive to peace to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

China maintains that the problem should be resolved through peaceful talks, so as to realize the peaceful coexistence and common development of the two peoples, Wang said.

He noted that China hopes Israel and Palestine would resume their peace talks at an early date, and resolve their problems under the principle of "land for peace" and on the basis of relevant UN resolutions.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2003)