Chinese envoy begins Middle East visit in push for peace

Zhai Jun, China's special envoy on the Middle East issue, arrived in Qatar on Thursday, the first leg of his tour in the region aimed at gathering consensus and aligning efforts to cool down tensions between Palestinians and Israelis.

Zhai held a series of talks in Doha, including with Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's deputy foreign minister and special presidential representative for the Middle East and Africa, and Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi, Qatar's minister of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During the talks, Zhai expressed China's willingness to communicate and coordinate with relevant parties to promote the de-escalation of the conflict and the end to hostilities, as well as resuming peace talks.

"The fundamental reason for the current situation in the conflict is that the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people have not been guaranteed," Zhai told Bogdanov.

Noting that China and Russia hold the same position regarding the Middle East issue, Zhai said Beijing is willing to work with Moscow to implement the two-state solution and push for an early, comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the issue.

Bogdanov said Russia is willing to work with China to promote cease-fire and create conditions to bring the Palestinian question back on track, Bogdanov added.

When speaking to Khulaifi, Zhai said Qatar wields significant influence over the Israeli-Palestinian issue and China is willing to coordinate with Qatar to play a constructive role in easing the tension.

Khulaifi said Qatar is engaging in mediation and values China's role, and is willing to enhance communication with Beijing.

In another development, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday that more than 1,000 Chinese citizens have left Israel and have returned to China or traveled to a third country since the outbreak of the conflict on Oct 7.

zhoujin@chinadaily.com.cn