An Israeli delegation to an international conference on Esperanto recently held in Beijing was warmly greeted by the hosts, according to delegation head Omri Vandell, Israel’s representative in the World Organization of Esperanto. Esperanto is an artificial international language.
Vandell said that although the Israelis received their entrance visas only two days before the congress began, they were welcomed warmly, and encountered no difficulties.
He said the Chinese were well aware of Israel and that the official daily newspaper regularly mentioned Jerusalem in its daily weather report of major cities. The paper also reported extensively on the visit of Premier Shimon Peres to Morocco.
At the official reception given by the 71st International Congress on Esperanto, the delegates met a Chinese student who spoke fluent Hebrew — one of 20 Hebrew students at the Beijing University.
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