Mubarak Meets Chinese FM Over Mideast Situation, Bilateral Ties

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh Thursday morning.

The meeting, held at Tower Hotel in the touristic city, was attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liu Xiaoming.

During the meeting, Mubarak and the Chinese minister discussed the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, the situation in Afghanistan, International anti- terrorism efforts and bilateral relations between Egypt and China.

Tang conveyed Chinese President Jiang Zemin's greetings to the Egyptian leader, while Mubarak asked him to convey his greetings to his Chinese counterpart.

The Chinese foreign minister also briefed Mubarak on arrangements for his visit to China next January, pointing to great efforts jointly exerted by the two sides to guarantee the success of the visit.

Tang expressed satisfaction with the development of Egypt-China relations and voiced his country's willingness to reinforce friendly cooperative ties with Egypt in various areas, noting that Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic ties with China.

China's position on supporting just Arab issues is unchangeable, Tang said, adding that China urges the parties concerned to resume peace negotiations as early as possible on the basis of the U.N. resolutions 242 and 338, the land-for-peace principle as well as what has been reached on the Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese peace tracks.

For his part, Mubarak welcomed Tang's visit to the Middle East, especially Egypt, and highly commended China's stance on supporting just Arab issues.

Mubarak also expressed hope that China will continue its positive role deemed by Arab nations as useful and necessary for achieving just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East region.

Commenting on the issue of terrorism, the Egyptian leader said Egypt has long suffered from terrorism, emphasizing that the causes of growing international terrorism should be addressed.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in Beijing on Thursday that China supports Mubarak's proposal to convene an international meeting on combating terrorism.

Zhang said at a regular press conference, China understands and attaches great importance to the concerns of the Arab countries and their position on the international terrorism issue now that they are also victims. (In Detail)

Tang arrived here Tuesday evening on a visit to Egypt and met his Egyptian counterpart Maher and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa on Wednesday.

Egypt is the fourth leg of Tang's regional tour, which has taken him to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

( December 28, 2001)