China 'not trying to surpass US' in Middle East: Envoy

BEIJING - China is not seeking to compete with the United States in exerting influence in the Middle East but is confident about its ties to the region despite recent power transfers, Beijing's special envoy to the Middle East has said.

"The US's values and interests clashed (in the regional chaos in the Middle East) this time, and it chose to protect its interests," Wu Sike, who has been the country's envoy to the Middle East since March 2009 and is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), told China Daily on the sidelines of the annual session of the CPPCC National Committee.

Washington's support for discarding Hosni Mubarak, the former Egyptian president, a long-term strategic ally of the US, "hurt and disappointed" both Arab leaders and America's other allies in the region, said Wu, a former ambassador to Egypt and Saudi Arabia.