At the request of Israeli Foreign Minister Ben Ami, China's Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan had a phone conversation with him on February 21st. Mr. Ben briefed his Chinese counterpart on the relevant developments of the situation in the Middle East.

Mr. Tang Jiaxuan thanked Mr. Ben for his briefing and expressed that the negotiations between Israel and the Arab world, especially the negotiation between Israel and Palestine had yielded some positive results during the Administration of the Labor Party and that had not come easily. He expressed his hope that the new Israeli administration soon to be set up can continue to uphold the strategic choice of resolving the Middle East question through political negotiations, make concerted efforts with all parties concerned to push forward the Middle East peace process and achieve substantive results on the basis of the UN relevant resolution and the principle of "land for peace" and by respecting and carrying out the relevant agreements and understanding already reached. Mr. Tang Jiaxuan emphasized that China had always actively supported the Middle East peace process and had made its own efforts to push the process forward. In the future, China is willing to continue to make its contributions to further enhancing the peace talks.

Mr. Ben Ami said that China was a good friend of the Middle East peace process and China's voice was a voice of wisdom that was conducive to peace and stability in the Middle East.