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Osama al-Baz, political advisor to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, met in Cairo Wednesday with Chinese Middle East envoy Wang Shijie on the volatile regional situation.
During the meeting, the two officials discussed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and post-war Iraq, two pressing issues facing the Arab world.
According to the Chinese Embassy in Cairo, al-Baz told Wang that Egypt supports a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"Egypt hopes that China would continue its efforts to push forward the Middle East peace process," al-Baz was quoted as saying.
The Chinese envoy later went to the Arab League Headquarters to meet with Arab League chief Amr Moussa.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Wang said China shares the same or similar views with the Arab League and Egypt on the Palestine issue, and it would like to strengthen its coordination with Arab countries on the peace process.
"China supports all the efforts aimed at achieving peace and stability in the region," the Chinese envoy said, adding that he and Moussa agreed to further promote cooperation between China and the 22-member pan-Arab forum.
Wang arrived here Tuesday afternoon as part of his third Middle East trip, which has taken him to Syria and will later take him to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian self-ruled areas and Israel.
He is expected to meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher on Thursday.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict flared up again a few weeks ago, dealing a heavy blow to the so-called roadmap peace plan.
The internationally drafted blueprint requires reciprocal steps to be taken by Israel and the Palestinians toward peace and envisions a full Palestinian statehood by 2005.
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2003)
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