Long-term peace and stability in the Middle East is unattainable without the United Nations (UN), a Chinese Foreign Ministry official said in Beijing Wednesday.  

Chen Weixiong, counselor in charge of the ministry's international affairs, was speaking at the UN Meeting for Asia and the Pacific Region on the Question of Palestine held in Beijing.

As the world's most representative and universal inter-governmental organization, the United Nations had accumulated a great deal of experience in dealing with international and regional hot spots in the last 58 years, Chen said.

UN resolutions were the basis of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The principles and relevant resolutions approved by the UN Security Council must be implemented to uphold UN authority and guarantee a lasting solution, he said.

He said the central role of the Security Council in maintaining peace in the Middle East should be given full play.

UN work in humanitarian and development fields should be strengthened, he said, in particular by enhancing the role of the secretary-general's special coordinator, mobilizing the resources of the international community, and making full use of the potential of civil society in promoting peace and development.

Chen said resolving the Middle East question and achieving a lasting peace would be a difficult and great endeavor for the international community, which must find appropriate mechanisms and ways to mediate, facilitate and push the process forward.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2003)