China was paying close attention to the Middle East situation, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in Beijing on Monday during a meeting with visiting Syrian Vice Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.

Yang said China hoped the parties concerned will properly settle the conflict between Palestine and Israel, the disagreements between Lebanon and Israel and the Syria-Israel dispute in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and the principle of "land for peace".

He said the interests of all parties should be given consideration to enforce smoothly the agreements that have already been made and keep them effective.

The concerned parties should grasp exactly the relations among the hot issues of the Middle East and support the international organizations such as the United Nations to play important roles.

Yang emphasized that under the current phase it's especially needed to create an atmosphere of communication and cooperation to ease the situation.

In the talks, the two spoke highly of Sino-Syrian ties and vowed to promote the bilateral friendly and cooperative relationship.

Yang highly appreciated Syria's firm support to China on the issues concerning Taiwan, Tibet and the Beijing Olympic Games. He expressed his gratitude on the friendly assistance offered by Syria after the Sichuan earthquake in May.

Mekdad said Syria paid high attention to the relationship with China and hoped that the two countries would maintain friendly cooperation in all fields.

He said Syria appreciated China's position on supporting the Middle East peace process and hoped the country would play a more important role on this issue.

(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2008)