Chinese president confers with Saudi crown prince

Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Thursday received Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz in Peking and welcomed the firm relations linking his country to Saudi Arabia.

In earlier meeting with the Saudi crown prince, the Chinese prime minister expressed his government's concern over the Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations. He urged the two sides to abide by the land-for-peace principle.

The Saudi crown prince called upon China to play a greater role in the Middle East. The Chinese foreign minister also met with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Saud al-Faisal. Following the meeting, the Saudi minister said that he discussed with his Chinese counterpart matters relating to foreign policy and international relations.

He described the talks as deep, frank and expressing the exchanged confidence between the two countries.

He added that the talks aimed at developing bilateral strategic relations alongside political and economic relations bringing world countries together. The Saudi foreign minister added that his talks covered the Middle East question and foremost the question of Jerusalem being the essence of the Arab - Israeli conflict and the importance of finding just solutions to the legitimate rights of the Arab nation and the stumbled Middle East peace process.

He added that, "The Middle East peace process will not be expressive of a genuine peace unless it treats the main issues, including the question of Jerusalem and the unilateral measures taken by Israel in the occupied territories."