China's Xi calls for Middle East peace conference

Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Thursday for a peace conference on the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas as he addressed Arab leaders and diplomats at a forum in Beijing.

China is this week hosting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and several other Arab leaders for a forum at which discussions on the war in Gaza were expected.

Addressing the delegations on Thursday morning, Xi said China supported a "broad-based" peace conference to resolve the conflict.

"The Middle East is a land bestowed with broad prospects for development, but the war is still raging on it," Xi said.

"War should not continue indefinitely. Justice should not be absent forever," he added.

Xi also said China "supports Palestine's full membership in the U.N., and supports a more broad-based, authoritative and effective international peace conference".

China, which has good relations with Israel, has advocated for decades for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Meeting Egypt's Sisi on Wednesday, Xi said he was "deeply pained" by the "extremely severe" situation in Gaza, where the Hamas-run territory's health ministry says 36,171 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.

"The top priority task now is an immediate ceasefire, in order to avoid spillover of conflict, impact on regional peace and stability, and... to prevent a more serious humanitarian crisis," Xi said.

He also said China was ready to work with Egypt, which neighbours Gaza and Israel, to "push for an early, comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian issue".

  'Golden opportunity' 

In recent years, China has sought to build closer ties with Arab states. Last year, it...