ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｌｅｂａｎｏｎ ａｎｄ Ｊｏｒｄａｎ

Invited by the Lebanese-Chinese League for Friendship and Cooperation (LCLFC) and Jordan-China Friendship Society， a 11-member CPAFFC delegation led by Zhu Weilie， director of the Institute for Middle East Studies at Shanghai International Studies University， visited Lebanon and Jordan from May 7 to 16 and attended the Conference on China-Lebanon Relations held in Lebanon on May 9.

In Lebanon， the CPAFFC and the LCLFC co-sponsored the first conference on China-Lebanon relations， at which Liu Xianghua， Chinese ambassador to Lebanon made a keynote speech. The experts and scholars from both China and Lebanon had warm discussions on three topics， namely: politics and economy， society and culture， the prospects of Sino-Lebanese relations and reform and opening up. The two sides also discussed the matters concerning further promoting Sino-Lebanese economic， trade and cultural cooperation， setting up a LCLFC reading room in the library of the Institute for Middle East Studies at the Shanghai International Studies University， and translating and publishing books and magazines publicizing each other country.

When visiting Jbeil well-known for its relics of ancient Phoenician city the delegation learned that it hoped to forge friendship-city relations with a Chinese city. Many other Lebanese cities also hope so.

In Jordan， Abd al-Hadi al-Majali， speaker of the House of Representatives， said when meeting with the delegation he was very happy to see that top Chinese experts on Middle East and Arab culture were included in the delegation and that the visit to Jordan by such a high level delegation would be conducive to the promotion of mutual understanding between the two countries.

When talking about Jordan， he said， Jordan is a country with an independent foreign policy. Jordan maintained political stability and achieved economic development in the complicated international struggle in the 1980s and the 1990s under the leadership of the late King Hussein. Being in such a volatile region， Jordan no doubt faces many challenges and pressure. Jordan holds， the question of Palestine is the core of the Middle East issue. The resolution of the question of Palestine will have great impact on Jordan. Meanwhile， the issue of the Middle East is not a matter concerning only the Palestinian people， but all the Arab countries. The Arab countries including Jordan should look at the matter from the strategic point of view and try to resolve the dispute by taking into consideration the interests of all sides including those of Israel. On China-Jordan relations， he said， since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Jordan， the two countries have enjoyed smooth development of friendly cooperation in various fields. Jordan has no official contact with Taiwan， only some unofficial economic and trade exchanges.