China and Tunisia Wednesday called on Israel to undertake a
comprehensive withdrawal from Palestinian territories and for
implementation of relevant United Nations Security Council
resolutions.
Visiting President Jiang Zemin and Tunisian President Zine
Al-Abidine Ben Ali Wednesday said during their talks that both
sides oppose Israel's use of military force.
The current Middle East situation was again touched upon in the
speeches by Jiang and Ben Ali at Wednesday's welcoming banquet.
Jiang said that China is very much worried about the escalation of
violence and the deterioration of the tense Middle East situation,
and he said that China also condemns Israel's abuse of its military
power and the economic blockade of Palestine and the isolation of
President Yasser Arafat.
China strongly urged Israel to immediately implement relevant
resolutions of the UN Security Council to withdraw troops from
Palestine, lift the blockade of Arafat's headquarters and resolve
disputes with Palestine through negotiations.
Jiang said that China, as a permanent member of the UN Security
Council, is willing to make efforts together with Arabian countries
to ease the tensions so as to restore peace in the region at an
early date.
Ben Ali called on the international community to take urgent and
decisive steps to protect the Palestinian people and see that their
legitimate rights are restored.
On
anti-terrorism, Ben Ali reiterated the call for an UN-sponsored
international conference to draft a code of conduct to guide the
struggle against terrorism and to address the root causes of
terrorism.
During the early meeting with Ben Ali, Jiang stressed that with the
development of economic globalization, China and Tunisia should
enhance bilateral cooperation.
Jiang put forward three suggestions on bilateral ties: increase
exchanges and contacts at all levels, especially high levels,
between the two sides; expand the channels of bilateral economic
and trade cooperation; and increase consultation and coordination
between the two sides in the international community so as to
protect the rights of developing countries.
Agreeing with Jiang's suggestions, Ben Ali also said that Tunisia
admired the great achievements scored by China in its economic and
social development, noting that Tunisia is willing to learn from
the Chinese success in economic construction.
Ben Ali said that China has made great contributions to the
economic development of Tunisia and that the Tunisian people thank
China for its assistance in the advancement of agriculture and
infrastructure in remote areas of Tunisia, which have improved the
local living standard.
(China Daily April 18,
2002)