China and the Palestinian Authority signed a “strategic partnership” when President Mahmoud Abbas visited Beijing on Wednesday, China said.
Mr Abbas was welcomed with full military honours at the Great Hall of the People, as China looks to compete with the US in bolstering Middle East ties.
“We are good friends and partners,” Chinese President Xi Jinping told Mr Abbas at the start of their meeting.
Mr Xi called the strategic partnership an “important milestone in the history of bilateral relations”, but no further details were released.
Mohammed Mustafa, economic adviser to Mr Abbas, said earlier this week that the two nations had formed an agreement in principle over Chinese funding for four West Bank projects including a solar power installation, a factory for solar panel production, a steel plant and road infrastructure development.
Mr Abbas, on his fifth official visit to China in almost 20 years at the head of the PA, said he would like to establish a free trade zone between the two nations.
He added said his administration was “looking forward to strengthening co-operation with China within the framework of its initiative” and securing investments.
“We especially appreciate the Chinese side’s commitment to financing a number of development projects presented by Palestine. We wish the speedy dispatch of technical delegations to implement these projects,” he said.
Mr Xi also touted a three-point plan for achieving peace between Palestine and Israel, one similar to a proposal he raised in 2013. The plan includes an independent Palestinian state along the lines of the 1967 agreement, international funding for the Palestinian people and a peace conference involving many international actors.
“We have always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights,” Mr Xi said.
“China is willing to strengthen co-ordination and co-operation with the Palestinian side to promote a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the Palestinian issue as soon as possible.”
Mr Abbas, who will be in China until Friday, told Mr Xi he was grateful to Beijing for its role in supporting Palestinian issues on the international stage, and excoriated Israel, saying its current government led by Benjamin Netanyahu was not interested in peace, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
His visit follows China's hosting of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia that resulted in the restoring of diplomatic relations between the two and boosting Beijing's standing in the region.
The Riyadh-Tehran rapprochement is seen as a diplomatic victory for China as Gulf Arab states perceive the US as slowly withdrawing from the wider region.
