China on track in Mid-East but US losing its way, envoy says

Beijing's top envoy to the Middle East says he is confident China will be able to maintain friendly relations with all countries in the troubled region, whereas US policies were losing the hearts of people in the region.

Wu Sike, special envoy on Middle East affairs since March 2009, also described Beijing's vote for a United Nations resolution to suspend Libya from the UN Human Rights Council as 'an exception'.

Wu, a former ambassador to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, said many people in the region felt let down by the United States' policies and actions towards the Arab world in recent years. Washington's wavering reaction to protests in Egypt had also lost it much credit.

'[Former Egyptian leader Hosni] Mubarak was a longtime ally of the United States, but when it looked like he was losing power, the US turned to support the army,' Wu said on the sidelines of a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference meeting yesterday. 'This shows that when interests and values come into conflict, the United States will fundamentally choose to safeguard their own interest ... this has disappointed many allies in the Arab world.'

The US position on Palestine and its invasion of Iraq also disappointed people in the region, Wu said, and the damage was very difficult to undo even though changes were made to US Middle East policy after President Barack Obama came to power.

Meanwhile, time had proved China's Middle East policy was well-received and effective.

'China's basic principle is to maintain a good relationship with countries of different background and political consciousness, and promote mutually beneficial co-operation with them,' Wu said, pointing out that China was not only on good terms with the Arab world, but also with Iran, Turkey and Israel.