RIYADH 

Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed dissatisfaction Friday with the injustices suffered by Palestinians and affirmed China’s support for an independent Palestinian state.

“It is not possible to continue the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinians,” the Chinese president said at the opening of the Riyadh-Gulf-Chinese Summit for Cooperation and Development in Saudi Arabia.

Xi emphasized the necessity for granting Palestine "full membership in the United Nations” and said Beijing "supports the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital."

He said he considered the Chinese-Arab summit a "defining event in the history of Chinese-Arab relations."

Relations between the two "are based on mutual interest in peace and harmony,” he said.

"The Chinese and Arab sides should strengthen solidarity and cooperation and build a community for a closer future,” he said as he welcomed Arab participation in the global security initiative.

“We are keen with the Arab side to implement joint pledges such as strengthening development, health and food security,” he added.

Xi arrived Wednesday in Saudi Arabia on an official visit.

He last visited the country in 2016.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report