Beijing
\nPresident Xi Jinping welcomed Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Beijing on Wednesday, as the Chinese capital hosts a number of Arab dignitaries for a forum it hopes will deepen ties with the region.
\nSeveral Arab leaders are this week visiting Beijing, which is seeking to present a \u201ccommon voice\u201d on the conflict between Israel and Hamas and improve cooperation. Xi met El-Sisi in a grand ceremony outside Beijing\u2019s Great Hall of People on Wednesday afternoon, state media footage showed, with the national anthems of both countries blaring out.
\nCairo has said the two will discuss \u201cregional and international issues of common interest.\u201d \u201cDiscussions will tackle ways to forge closer bilateral relations and to unlock broader prospects for cooperation in an array of fields,\u201d the Egyptian presidency said.
\nBeijing has sought to build closer ties with Arab states in recent years, and last year brokered a detente between Tehran and its long-time foe Saudi Arabia. It has also historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And Beijing last month hosted rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah for \u201cin-depth and candid talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation.\u201d
\nUnited Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as well as a host of other regional leaders and diplomats, is also among the delegates attending the forum. Xi is set to deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony on Thursday, Beijing has said, aimed at building \u201ccommon consensus\u201d between China and Arab states.
\nTop of the agenda will be the war between Israel and Hamas, which Xi has called for an \u201cinternational peace conference\u201d to resolve. China sees a \u201cstrategic opportunity to boost its reputation and standing in the Arab world\u201d by framing its efforts to end that conflict against US inaction, Ahmed Aboudouh, an associate fellow with the Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Programme, told AFP.
\n\u201cThis, in turn, serves Beijing\u2019s focus on undermining the US\u2019s credibility and influence in the region,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe longer the war, the easier for China to pursue this objective,\u201d he added.
\nOn Tuesday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with counterparts from Yemen and Sudan in Beijing, saying he hoped to \u201cstrengthen solidarity and coordination\u201d with the Arab world.
\nHe also raised China\u2019s concerns over disruptive attacks on Red Sea shipping by Iran-backed Houthi forces acting in solidarity with Hamas with his Yemeni counterpart Shayea Mohsen Al-Zindani.
\n\u201cChina calls for an end to the harassment of civilian vessels and to ensure the safety of waterways in the Red Sea,\u201d state news agency Xinhua quoted him as saying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Beijing President Xi Jinping welcomed Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Beijing on Wednesday, as the Chinese capital hosts a number of Arab dignitaries for a forum it hopes will deepen ties with the region. Several Arab leaders are this week visiting Beijing, which is seeking to present a \u201ccommon voice\u201d on the conflict between …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":64457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65536,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65511\/revisions\/65536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}