Leaders of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have signed a declaration aimed at ending division and strengthening unity.
A total of 14 Palestinian factions are due to be represented at a meeting with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
It comes after days of talks to discuss reconciliation efforts to end around 17 years of political splits.
Tensions have been rising between Fatah and Hamas over the latter’s continued war with Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Fatah movement, has previously criticised the Islamist group for the war, while Hamas has accused the Palestinian president of taking Israel’s side.
The two main Palestinian factions have been at odds since Hamas won legislative elections in 2006 and took over the Gaza Strip in 2007 after a brief civil war in which it routed the Western-backed Palestinian forces loyal to Abbas.
Efforts since 2007 by Arab countries, led by Egypt, have so far failed to end power-sharing disputes between Hamas, which runs Gaza, and the Fatah movement of Abbas, which makes the backbone of the Palestinian Authority.
China’s relations with the Palestinians stretch back to the 1960s when Beijing provided food, weapons, training and support to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).
More recently China has developed significant financial interests in the Middle East, but hosting the Palestinian reconciliation talks is a sign of it trying to increase its diplomatic clout in the region, at a time when its relationship with Israel – with whom it has economic interests – is strained over the Gaza conflict.
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