JERUSALEM, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's current tour in China has drawn significant attention within the Jewish state, with local media widely giving exposure of his visit and remarks.

    Within two hours of touching down in Beijing after an overnight flight from Israel, Olmert drove 50 kilometers east of the capital to visit a farm run by Israeli agricultural experts that has more than doubled the yield of milk from Chinese cows, local English newspaper Jerusalem Post reported on Tuesday.

    Olmert's parents grew up in China's northern city of Harbin and spoke Chinese. They immigrated to Palestine in the 1930s before Israel was established, the Post said, quoting Olmert as saying in an interview with Xinhua that "Chinese culture is part of my heritage and part of my earliest memory as a young child".

    Local popular newspaper Ha'aretz also published an article on Tuesday based on the same interview, saying that Olmert recently expressed his disappointment with the results of Israel's two unilateral withdrawals from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

    "In an interview with the Chinese news agency Xinhua prior to his departure Monday for a three-day visit to China, the prime minister said that he believes in the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. In order to achieve this, he added, Israel will have to withdraw from a large part of the territories that it controls today, and "we are ready to do this,"the Ha'aretz report said.

    Another popular newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, attaching the same importance to Olmert's stay in China, reported on Tuesday afternoon that Olmert visited the sites being built ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

    "A large part of the prime minister's visit is to deal with trade issues. Olmert said in an interview with the Chinese news agency that Israel seeks to expand its trade relations with the growing economic power from current 3 billion U.S. dollars a year to 5 billion U.S. dollars next year.

    The prime minister is expected to sign trade agreements and meet the Chinese commerce minister on Wednesday," the Yedioth Ahronoth report said.

    Olmert is expected to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. This is the first official visit of an Israeli prime minister to China in more than 10 years. The last visit was held by Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996.