China, Palestine ink pact to upgrade ties

Sandeep Dikshit

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New Delhi, June 14

China has established a “strategic partnership” with Palestine following talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing on Wednesday. “It will serve as an important milestone in China-Palestine relations that builds on past achievements and heralds a brighter future,” Xi said in a statement.

The announcement marks another step in China’s campaign to gain political and economic influence in West Asia, where it is competing for influence with the US. Xi said Beijing could play a “positive role” in achieving internal reconciliation in Palestine and holding peace talks with Israel. By internal reconciliation he would have meant Hamas which controls Gaza Strip while Abbas’ more-moderate Fatah is in control of West Bank.

“The fundamental solution lies in the establishment of an independent state of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty on the basis of the 1967 borders and with east Jerusalem as its capital,” Xi reportedly told Abbas during the bilateral talks.

The pact to strike a “strategic partnership” follows an incremental step-up in ties over the years. In 2019, China and Palestine launched the first round of negotiations on a free trade zone. Last December, they signed a memorandum of understanding on belt and road initiative cooperation.