Jiang, in Balancing Act, Endorses Palestinian Cause

Drawing a standing ovation from the Palestinian parliament, Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Saturday promised his unflagging support for Palestinian statehood--but carefully avoided offending Israel in the process.

On a one-day visit to the Palestinian-held areas sandwiched between five days in the Jewish state, Jiang tried to juggle the demands of an old friend, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, and a new one, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

In their speeches to the parliament, both Jiang and Arafat invoked the long relationship between China and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Asian nation has given the PLO generous military and financial assistance.

“China has a special place in our hearts,” Arafat said. He noted that he and the late PLO military chief Khalil Wazir were the first Arabs to meet with Mao Tse-tung, the leader of the Chinese revolution.

However, China also has developed ties with Israel. During Jiang’s trip to Israel, Barak took the risk of offending his nation’s strongest ally, the United States, by siding with China over an Israeli-Chinese arms deal.

In his speech to the Palestinian parliament, which convened for a special session in a Bethlehem luxury hotel, Jiang invoked the old friendship between Arafat and China’s Communist leaders.

“We would like to reassert that our support for the just cause of the Palestinian people is a permanent policy of China,” Jiang said. He added that the Palestinians had made considerable progress toward “the great objective of establishing an independent state.”

The Palestinians asked China to get involved in the Mideast peace talks by appointing a special envoy to monitor them, but Jiang’s response was not known.