Palestinian Ambassador to China Fariz Mehdawi delivers a speech at the handover ceremony of national certificates of honor in Beijing on Monday. Photo: Wang Wenwen/GT

China as a major power and responsible country within the UN Security Council has credibility when offering to achieve peace in the Middle East. In this region, the Palestinian question is the central issue for regional stability and development, said Palestinian Ambassador to China Fariz Mehdawi on Monday.

"China is not advocating peace while going into war. China was able to build itself because all resources have been directed for the sake of development and for the best interests of the Chinese," the ambassador told the Global Times, adding that the countries who have been wasting resources and focusing on armament will not be winners.

"War will never solve anything. China does not like to have alliances, blocs, or military arrangements which are directed against others," Ambassador Mehdawi said.

The ambassador made the statements in an interview with the Global Times on the sidelines of the handover ceremony of national certificates of honor in Beijing.

The "Supporting the Rights of Palestine" award is a national academic diplomatic award initiated by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In 2022, 17 academicians across the globe received the award, and three of them were Chinese. 

On Monday's event organized by the Embassy of the State of Palestine, Ambassador Mehdawi handed over certificates to the three Chinese academicians. They include Luo Lin from Beijing Language and Culture University, Wang Guangda from Shanghai Foreign Language University and Bai Ye from Beijing Language and Culture University.

"We highly evaluate the works of those academicians. Honoring them is duty and also encouraging others to devote their works into the Palestine issue because the issue, away from politics, is an issue of justice, freedom and humanitarianism in a sense. Who could know much better than the Chinese people who had gone through years of colonialism of foreign occupation? So the Palestine issue resonates very well with the Chinese public," said Ambassador Mehdawi, adding that the history of China makes China's position credible.

Those attending the ceremony also included Zhai Jun, special envoy of the Chinese government on the Middle East issue, and former special envoy Wu Sike. 

On Monday, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, expressed concerns about the Palestinian question at a UN Security Council briefing.

"For some time now, the Palestinian-Israeli relations have continued to be tense. The unilateral actions by Israel keep escalating, pushing the situation to the brink of spinning out of control," said Zhang.

Zhang called on the international community to push forward the comprehensive, just and long-lasting solution of the Palestinian question.