China called for a resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians at a conference in Beijing, as the rising global power seeks greater diplomatic influence in the Middle East.
"We need to redouble efforts to promote peace talks," assistant foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu said at the United Nations International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace, an event attended by diplomats, UN delegates, academics, and figures from the Palestinian and Israeli parliaments.
"The international community should be fully aware of the importance and urgency of settling the Palestinian question and make every effort to promote the resumption of peace talks," he added, on the first day of the two-day conference.
China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has voiced support for the Palestinian push for full state membership in the United Nations.
Beijing has traditionally remained distant from Middle East affairs, although it has begun to take a more active diplomatic role in recent years, wielding its UN veto to scuttle some Western-backed proposals on Syria.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu made state visits to Beijing during the same week last month.
Bassam al-Salhi, a representative of Abbas, said that China could play a "special role" in the Middle East on a visit to Beijing last November.
"The importance of this conference is that all the international community support Palestinian inalienable rights," al-Salhi, the head of the Palestinian delegation to the conference, told AFP today. "China is (a) very important country to take its role in the peace process."
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been frozen since 2010, causing US Secretary of State John Kerry to admonish both Netanyahu and Abbas to make the "tough decisions" needed to restart them.
China generally opposes what it calls intervention in the internal affairs of other nations.
