Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo: Kremlin.ru via Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is on an official three-day visit to China, with the goal of building economic and diplomatic ties.

In an interview ahead of his trip, Abbas told the Xinhua news agency he believes China can make a positive contribution to peace and stability in the Middle East. The Palestinian leader said that in his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, he will place an emphasis on the “four-point proposal” put forward by Xi in 2013, which calls for an independent Palestinian state.

Abbas Zaki, a Palestinian Fatah official who is in charge of the Abbas-led party’s relations with China, told the Jerusalem Post that Abbas’s trip is timed to coincide with the upcoming Chinese Communist Party Congress, a gathering that takes place every five years and sets the official policy of the government.

“It is important for President Abbas to convey our positions to [Xi] before it convenes,” Zaki said.

The PA president will ask the Chinese leader to continue supporting the Palestinians in international forums and to invest in the disputed territories, Zaki added.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited China earlier this year.