Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted a welcome ceremony for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing on Monday (May 6).<br/> <br />After inspecting guard of honour on the Tiananmen Square, the two leaders walked into a meeting room inside the Great Hall of the People.<br/> <br />Xi praised Abbas for his role in leading the Palestinian people to important achievements on the way to building a country, and vowed to have thorough exchange of views with his counterpart.<br/> <br />Abbas told Xi that bilateral relations have kept developing since China became the first country to set up an office on the Palestinian territory in the 1960s.<br/> <br />The two leaders also witnessed signing of a China-Palestinian government economic technical cooperation framework and an agreement for cultural exchange between the two governments from 2013 to 2016.<br/> <br />China will also host and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week for separate bilateral talks as it tries to shore up its role in a region where
