Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to start a three-day state visit.

This is Abbas' fifth visit to China. He is also the first Arab head of state to be hosted by China this year.

Following a positive trend in the Middle East after the resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia brokered by China, experts and officials expected China to give play to its potential for advancing the peace process between Palestine and Israel under its proposed security vision, the Global Security Initiative (GSI), via the upcoming bilateral talks.

An everlasting friendship

China and Palestine enjoy a traditional friendship that runs a long history. 

One year after its establishment, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) opened an office in Beijing in 1965. In 1988, China was one of the first countries to recognize the PLO and the State of Palestine.

From 1964 to August 2001, former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat visited China 14 times and most Chinese people became familiar with his symbolic green fatigues and signature black-and-white Keffiyeh on TV screens.

For 10 consecutive years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent congratulatory messages to the special commemorative meeting in observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people.

More than once he put forward China's proposals for resolving the Palestinian question, stressing the need to resolutely advance a political settlement based on the two-state solution and intensify international efforts for peace.

In December last year, as President Xi met Abbas in Saudi Arabia, he reiterated China's stance on working for an early, just and durable solution to the Palestinian issue and hailed that China and Palestine have always trusted and supported each other over the past five decades.

Noting Abbas is an old and good friend and the first Arab head of state to be hosted by China this year, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at a regular press briefing last week that Abbas' visit "speaks volumes about the high-level friendly relations between China and Palestine."

"China stands ready to work with Palestine to follow through on the common understandings of leaders of the two countries and take the China-Palestine traditional friendship to new heights," the spokesperson stressed.

China's potential to advance peace

Experts and officials expect the upcoming bilateral talks to explore ways for advancing the peace process between Palestine and Israel, as China has been a long-standing supporter of the Palestinian cause.

For years, China has called out deviations from the original Middle East peace plan to refocus attention on relevant UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, furthering the case for more inclusive pathways to rebuilding Israel-Palestinian confidence.

In 2021, China proposed a five-point initiative on achieving security and stability in the Middle East and later a three-point vision for the implementation of the two-state solution to the Palestinian question, urging both sides to resume peace talks. In 2022, China proposed its solution for security challenges facing humanity, namely, the Global Security Initiative (GSI), which promotes "common security" for all while calling for the legitimate security concerns of all to be respected and taken seriously. The restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran to end years of antagonism in March brokered by China is a successful practice of GSI.

After the agreement of the two Gulf nations, reconciliatory steps in the Middle East are being taken one after another to break diplomatic impasses.

When heightened tensions between Israel and Palestine contributed to new spikes in violence, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang called Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on April 17 to express China's willingness to facilitate Israel-Palestine peace talks to "prevent the conflict from escalating or even getting out of control."

According to Hannan Hussain, assistant research associate at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, the GSI – a key reference point in Qin's exchange with Cohen – suggests a more proactive approach to incentivizing talks, especially when momentum has been lost for more than a decade.

As China has spent years maintaining healthy diplomatic ties with both parties, creating valuable common ground to project its neutrality and coordinate expectations for peace, both Palestine and Israel value China's influence and welcome its positive role. "There is significant optimism about China's potential to cultivate trust surplus and mediate effectively for lasting peace in the region," wrote Hussain in a commentary for CGTN.

A survey by the Arab News newspaper in May echoed Hussain's opinion, which revealed that an overwhelming 80 percent of Palestinians support a Chinese role in peace talks with Israel while nearly 60 percent of those surveyed no longer trust the role played by the United States.

"Abbas' visit to China this time is very important because of China's growing influence in the Middle East, especially after Beijing successfully brokered talks to restore diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia," said Abbas Zaki, a Palestinian Fatah Central Committee member and commissioner for relations with Arab countries and China, in an interview with the China Media Group on Tuesday.

He added that China and Palestine have always supported each other on issues involving their core interests with mutual trust, and Palestine has always adhered to the one-China principle.

Noting China has realized significant development, he said the Arab world needs China, and Palestine stands ready to deepen cooperation in various fields and cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

(Cover: Chinese and Palestinian national flags at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, June 13, 2023. /CFP)