Chinese President Xi Jinping met President Mahmoud Abbas of the State of Palestine on Monday, voicing China's support for a Palestinian state and overseeing the signing of several cooperation agreements. China insisted on the "independence of Palestine and peaceful coexistence between Palestine and Israel," the Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted President Xi as telling President Abbas. "It is an inalienable right for the people of Palestine to build an independent country, setting Jerusalem (Al-Quds) as the capital and based on the 1967 boundary, with full sovereignty, which is the key to resolving the Palestinian issue," President Xi was quoted as saying. Negotiations should continue under the principle of "land for peace," while the peace process would be helped by greater unity within the State of Palestine, President Xi said. Both the Presidents witnessed the signing of agreements between the two governments covering economic, technological, cultural and educational cooperation, the ministry was cited as saying by DPA. President Abbas was a given a state welcome hosted by President Xi outside Beijing's Great Hall of the People. He arrived in Beijing on Sunday, one day ahead of a planned visit to China by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu was scheduled to arrive in Shanghai later Monday and travel to Beijing on Wednesday, while President Abbas was scheduled to end his visit on Tuesday. China's special envoy for the Middle East, Wu Sike, met Palestinian and Israeli officials in late April to prepare for the two visits, the ministry reported earlier.
