May 07, 2013,People's Daily Online

Two distinguished guests from the Middle East - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - have arrived in China to start their visits. Palestine and Israel have good relations and close cooperation with China in spite of the long distance that separates them from China. Their visits will be warmly welcomed by Chinese government and Chinese people. 

This is the first time that Abbas has visited China as the president of Palestine. He is also the first head of an Arabic state visiting China after the new Chinese government was sworn in. It is also Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's first visit to a global power except the United States after he was elected as Prime Minister in March. His visit demonstrates China's role in Sino-Israeli ties. 

Palestine is a traditional friend of China. China has heartily sympathized with and given continuous support to Palestine whose people became displaced after their homeland was occupied. The top leaders of China and Palestine have maintained frequent exchanges based on mutual respect and trust. 

Sino-Israeli ties have developed rapidly in recent years. In the past 21 years since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties, the trade volume between China and Israel has increased from 50 million U.S. dollars to 10 billion U.S. dollars, which brings great benefits to the people of these two countries. 

It can be predicted that to further boost Sino-Palestinian and Sino-Israeli ties will be the topic of the discussions among the top leaders. 

The Palestinian-Israeli problem is a misfortune left by history. The Gaza War in 2012 and Palestine's bid to join in the United Nations remind the international community that the negative effects of Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the world can't be ignored in anyway. 

After Obama was re-elected U.S. president, the U.S. activated the mediation mechanism between Palestine and Israel. Palestine and Israel have given more conciliatory gestures and said they are willing to return to talks. The international community also feels the urgency of solving the Israeli-Palestinian problem.

In this context, Palestinian President and Israeli Prime Minister pay visits to China nearly at the same time. These two neighboring countries have been enemies for 65 years. The top leaders haven't had contacts except in the United States. Now their successive arrival in Beijing shows their expectations and trust in China.

China has always been promoting peace talks between Israel and Palestine. In 2002, China appointed the Special Envoy on the Middle East issue to mediate among Palestine, Israel and other Arabic countries. China has made some constructive proposals and contributions to Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

China has unique conditions to make contributions for the Mid-East peace. Although the Middle East has the most ethnic contradictions and communal conflicts in the world, China has maintained good ties with all of the countries and has a good reputation in this region. China has established a new type of relations with countries in Middle East, which is proved by the simultaneous visits of Abbas and Netanyahu.

China has a comprehensive diplomacy. China's new leaders have had contacts with top leaders of dozens of countries in the world after they assumed office. China's door is also open to the Middle East.