Hamas invited to visit China

Zahar among 23 ministers from Arab states invited to Beijing this month.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
zahar rally 298.88 (photo credit: AP [file])
zahar rally 298.88
(photo credit: AP [file])
China said Wednesday it will host the foreign minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, and said that Beijing's interests in the Middle East range beyond oil to development issues and the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar is among 23 ministers from Arab states and entities invited to Beijing late this month for a conclave on China-Arab relations, Zhai Jun of the Chinese foreign ministry said at a news conference. The invitation to Zahar, considered a Hamas hard-liner, comes as frictions between Beijing and Washington are rising over another Middle East issue: oil. China is trying to secure supplies for its booming economy often from governments at odds with Washington . A recent US document on national security strategy has accused China of trying to lock up oil resources. In closed door meetings Chinese officials have forcefully told US not to interfere in China's hunt for oil. Shying away from controversy, Zhai said that China is playing a positive role in the Middle East and suggested, without naming the US, that it was not trying to supplant American influence in the region. "China has been playing a constructive role on all issues and as China's ties grow with countries in the region, China is playing a bigger role," Zhai, who handles Western Asia and Northern Africa affairs, told reporters. "We don't think that such a role has received pressure from other certain countries." As a sign of those growing interests, China's trade with the Arab world has grown tenfold in the past decade, to US$51.3 billion (euro40 billion) last year, dominated by oil, machinery and textiles, Zhai said. He refused to say what percentage of trade was in oil, but an estimate based on import figures he provided would put the figure at more than US$20 billion (euro15.6 billion), or 40 percent of total trade.