During his meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Wang said China welcomes and supports the Mideast peace "road map," and hopes Israel and Palestine can seize this opportunity and resume peace talks as soon as possible.

The road map, which is formulated by the international mediation Quartet, namely the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, is designed to help the Palestinians to establish their country by 2005.

The special envoy hoped that the two sides will start solving their differences first with easy problems and in a "give-and-take" manner.

Wang said China calls for the international community to set a just, authoritative and effective mechanism to monitor the peace process, and that China would propose a peace conference participated by the UN Security Council and related parties.

Arafat expressed his welcome and support for the proposal, adding that the Palestinian side has accepted the road map peace plan and hopes to reach peace with Israel through political talks.

Wang's meeting with Arafat, held at the latter's compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, was the second between the two since last November.

Both Israel and the United States have sidelined the Palestinian leader, who was accused of supporting terrorism and blocking Palestinian reform.

Later Wednesday, Wang met Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Sha'ath in Ramallah and Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, or Abu Mazen, in the Gaza Strip.

The envoy arrived in Israel on Sunday for a four-day visit. Ahead of his meetings with Palestinian leaders, Wang also met Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and EU envoy to the region Miguel Angel Moratinos on Tuesday.

Wang is scheduled to meet former Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres on Thursday in Tel Aviv.

(Xinhua News Agency May 22, 2003)