China has announced a five-point proposal on the Middle East issue
in Beijing Wednesday at a news briefing.
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 28, 2003)