BEIJING, May 23 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government hopes China-Israel relations will be unaffected by the attendance of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmud al-Zahar at the upcoming China-Arab ministerial meeting, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao here on Tuesday.

    The Second Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum is to be held in Beijing on May 31 and June 1. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and his counterparts or their representatives from 22 Arab countries and the Arab League (AL) will attend.

    The Foreign Ministry confirmed Mahmud al-Zahar would also attend.

    Liu said the Chinese government had invited all members of the forum, including Palestine, according to the rules and conventions of the forum. China would respect Palestine's decision on the representative.

    He said the Chinese government valued relations with Israel and was willing to maintain and develop the friendly cooperation between the two countries. Enditem