Jan.  19, 2002

President Hosni Mubarak described as shameful the acts of aggression in the Palestinian territories adding that killings, destruction and sabotage can never lead to a solution under any circumstances.

In an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua and representatives of Chinese media on Tuesday, Mubarak said that besieging Palestinian President Yasser Arafat or any Palestinian leader is humiliating. "If the Israelis think they can solve the Palestinian issue without Arafat, I tell them this would not happen," Mubarak asserted."Getting rid of Arafat would lead to catastrophic repercussions some may not be able to comprehend," said Mubarak adding that the people back the leader they choose.

Mubarak called on the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume negotiations and start the implementation of the Mitchell recommendations and the Tenet plan.

"This can not be achieved without the cooperation of the US, European countries and Israel," he added.

The September 11 attacks proved that terrorism is a world phenomenon that requires cooperation from all world countries to preserve development and good relations, said Mubarak.

Mubarak stressed he has been pressing for organising an international anti-terrorism conference since 1986, adding that his call was not taken seriously.

"I have called for an international anti-terrorism conference to be held under the UN umbrella to evade the evils of terrorism. This conference should come up with laws and recommendations binding to all world countries if we want stability in the world ," he elaborated adding that the more this conference is postponed, the more complicated the problem gets.

He added that the US has said since the beginning of the military operation in Afghanistan that combatting terrorism would take years and all world countries should join hands in this drive.

Asked about the Indian-Pakistani conflict, Mubarak said this issue can be solved via negotiations and concessions from both parties to realise an ideal solution and focus on development for the good of the peoples, said Mubarak.

Such conflicts direct countries' resources to the purchase of weapons, killing and destruction which would force them to a re-build their countries all over, he added.

On the issue of Taiwan, Mubarak reiterated Egypt's support for the integrity of Chinese territories and unity of its people, repudiating reports on the opening of a Taiwanese trade representation office in Cairo. As I confirmed before believe in the integrity of Chinese territories and our stance is quite clear in the UN and all international fora. Reports of opening any representation offices of Taiwan in Cairo are totally baseless , he stressed.

Mubarak highlighted the importance of strong, deeply-rooted and constantly-growing Egyptian-Chinese relations. He voiced optimism that ties would be further boosted. He recalled that he first visited China in 1976 when he was the vice president. Since then, relations grew stronger and reached the stage of bilateral cooperation in the various military, economic, trade, agricultural and tourist domains.

Mubarak said he visited China seven times so far. He lauded ties with Chinese leaders who paid several visits to Egypt, the last one being his meeting with the Chinese president in Alexandria in April 2000.

Asked about economic development efforts in Egypt, Mubarak said that the Egyptian government has ambitious plans for developing the economy to cope with the rapid pace of world economic development and the constantly-developing science and technology.

The Egyptian people live only on 4 percent of Egypt's lands around the Nile Valley and Delta and the population is constantly growing, said Mubarak.

Egypt has started, three years ago, the implementation of the Toshka project in Upper Egypt which will take more than 20 years, Mubarak said. He added that the project would pave the road for many farm land, more much-needed crops and persuade the Egyptians to head for the desert instead of amassing in the Nile Valley and Delta.

Concluding the interview with Xinhua and Chinese media men, Mubarak hailed the Chinese people.