China ties up oil deals with 22 Arab nations

Twenty-two Arab nations have agreed to boost energy cooperation and increase trade with China at the end of a two-day meeting in Beijing.

Analysts see the meeting as part of Beijing's strategy of pushing for stability in the Middle East in order to secure future oil supplies.

Middle East nations already provide China with about 44 percent of its oil imports and with its economy showing no signs of slowing down, Beijing wants to get more oil from the region. For that to happen, China's leaders say, there first needs to be peace in the Middle East and the key to that is the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Among the Arab League foreign ministers taking part in the two-day meeting here was Mahmoud Zahar of the Palestinian government led by Hamas - a group the United States and others have shunned for its terrorist activities

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