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.
Mubarak's Impending Visit to 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.
Concern to Situation in Middle East
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.
Proposal for Anti-terrorism Convention Welcomed
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)