On September 26, 2012, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi attended and addressed a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council on peace and security in the Middle East in New York, the United States.

Yang said the Middle East is undergoing unprecedented changes and has attracted wide attention from the international community. Peace, stability and development in the Middle East represent the shared aspirations of all people in the region and serve the common interests of the entire international community, Yang said. "The future and destiny of the region should be held in the hands of its own people," he noted. The Chinese foreign minister called on the international community to respect the distinctive religious and cultural features of the region, listen to the aspirations and calls of the people living there, and urge the parties concerned to work out appropriate solutions through inclusive political processes to achieve durable peace and common prosperity.

Concerning the Palestinian issue, Yang said in the current situation, it is all the more imperative for the international community to recognize the importance and urgency of relaunching peace talks between Palestine and Israel. "The international community should adopt a more active and constructive stance to promote peace talks and urge both the Palestinians and Israelis to take concrete steps to remove obstacles to peace talks, rebuild mutual trust, resume talks and make substantive progress at an early date," Yang said.

Yang also expounded the principled position on Syria and Iran's nuclear issue, saying China is willing to work with the international community and continue to make unremitting efforts for political settlement of the relevant issues.

As a good friend and good partner of the Arab countries and people, China firmly supports and helps promote their just cause, Yang said. "China will, as always, take a constructive part in the mediation and settlement of the hotspot issues in the Middle East, support the UN and its Security Council to continuously play an important role in addressing the Middle East issue and help put this region on a path of peace, stability, economic prosperity and social progress at an early date," he said.