China backs Palestine's UN membership

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Monday voiced China's support to the Palestinian UN membership and the efforts to achieve the "two-state solution" through political negotiation.

Yang made the statement as he was speaking at the general debate of the 66th session of the General Assembly.

"China consistently supports the just cause of establishing an independent Palestinian state and supports Palestine's membership in the United Nations," he said.

"We support efforts to achieve the 'two-state solution' through political negotiation so as to establish, on the basis of the 1967 borders, an independent Palestinian state that enjoys full sovereignty with East Jerusalem as its capital," said the foreign minister.

The "two-state solution," extensively supported by the international community, means an independent Palestinian state to live in peace with a secure Israel.

"We believe that progress should be made in parallel in the peace talks between Syria and Israel and between Lebanon and Israel with a view to eventually achieving comprehensive, just and durable peace in the Middle East and peaceful coexistence between the Arab countries and Israel," Yang said.

"We hope that the international community and parties concerned will make unremitting efforts toward this end and sustain the Middle East peace process," he said.

Despite mounting pressures, including the repeated U.S. veto threats, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas on Friday formally presented the application letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon in a bid to seek the UN recognition of Palestine as a full member state.

The Isareli-Palestinian conflict, seen as a big test for the international peace efforts, overwhelmed other matters here at the UN Headquarters in New York as 193 member states gathered here for the annual high-level debate of the UN General Assembly.

The UN Security Council is scheduled to begin consultations at 03:00 p.m. EDT (19:00GMT) on Monday on Palestine's application for the full UN membership. It is the first time for the UN body to discuss the Palestinian statehood bid since the request was formally presented to the world body on Friday.