Apparent neutrality How China reacts to the war between Israel and Gaza Current events in Israel have become a source of concern for Beijing. The People’s Republic has proposed agreements on many occasions and on various occasions to promote an international solution to the conflict

China waited 24 hours to comment on Operation Storm, which Hamas launched against Israel on the morning of October 7. Beijing’s diplomacy did not deviate from its usual wait-and-see format: In the statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “relevant parties were asked to remain calm and moderate” and criticized the inaction of the international community regarding the Palestine issue. On the political front, he reiterated the need to “implement the two-state solution with the establishment of an independent Palestine” according to the borders before the 1967 Six-Day War.

However, the statement does not contain a clear word of condemnation of Hamas for the deliberate massacre of Israeli civilians killed or kidnapped by guerrillas from Gaza. Instead, it reiterated China’s commitment to continue “to make unremitting efforts with the international community to this end.” Israel’s response was immediate. Yuval Waks, a senior official at the Israeli embassy in Beijing, criticized China’s statement for not being strong enough in condemning the Palestinian attacks. But as with the war in Ukraine, China is hiding behind apparent neutrality.

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China fills US regional weakness

However, there are reasons that push Beijing to take a hesitant position even in this war scenario. China presents itself as a peace broker between historically armed countries in the Middle East region. Thanks to the Mandarin’s mediation, Iran and Saudi Arabia began talking to each other again after seven years, thereby freeing themselves from American hegemony. By exploiting the weakness of US influence in the Middle East, Beijing has attracted the attention and sympathy of the global South, which distrusts the Washington-led model.

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Current events in Israel have become a cause for concern for Beijing. The People’s Republic has proposed agreements many times and on various occasions to promote an international solution to the conflict. Let’s start with Beijing’s relations with Israeli-Palestinian leaders. Historical ties between China and Palestine led China to recognize the sovereignty of the Palestinian state in 1988, based on Beijing’s long-held pro-Arab and “anti-Israeli” Middle East policy. On the other hand, the communist country has a deep-rooted relationship with the Palestinian cause dating back to the Mao Zedong era. The Great Helmsman sided with the Palestinian resistance, and other leaders such as Deng Xiaoping guaranteed their almost unconditional support for the revolutionary cause led by Yasser Arafat, who was considered the “old friend of the Chinese people”.

(Failed) peace symposiums

However, things changed in the early 1990s when Beijing approached Tel Aviv in 1992 and re-established bilateral relations. Relations that turned into commercial agreements: In 2017, 17 years after the then President of the People’s Republic Jiang Zemin’s historic trip to Tel Aviv, a cooperation agreement on innovation and high technology was signed between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Chinese. President Xi Jinping.

Economic relations between the two countries have focused on technological exchange: Beijing has leveraged Israeli military technology to strengthen its Armed Forces. Then there is the infrastructure area. The Asian giant wants to develop a corridor between the ports of Ashdod, Haifa (facing the Mediterranean) and Eilat (washed by the Red Sea) and bring it under the umbrella of the New Silk Road project. Economically, China-Israel ties have grown significantly over the past decade, nearly doubling from $9.8 billion in 2011 to $18.2 billion in 2021. China’s investments in Israel amounted to 10.6 billion dollars in the same ten-year period. In a short time, China has become Israel’s second largest trading partner (right after the United States), and it is unlikely that Beijing will want to risk its economic interests with the Middle Eastern country.

However, the primary interest of the People’s Republic of China is to ensure stability and peace in the places where it conducts its business. Thus, Beijing took an active step towards resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Between 2006 and 2021, China held four (unsuccessful) peace symposiums with representatives of the two parties involved. The basis of the discussion were four points that were also on the agenda of Chinese President Xi: the two-state solution according to the borders before the 1967 Six-Day War, and the promotion of development and cooperation as a means of achieving peace among Israelis. and the Palestinians, a ceasefire and freeze on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif

We went from four to three points. These latest changes emerged during the meeting last June between Chinese President Xi and Palestinian National Authority (PNA) leader Mahmoud Abbas, where the establishment of a strategic partnership between China and Palestine was announced and the three-point agreement was detailed. Plan for the peaceful solution of the Palestinian problem. During Leader Abbas’ four-day state visit to Beijing, the establishment of a broad international peace conference with greater “influence and authority” was proposed to promote peaceful coexistence between Palestine and Israel. Offers that fell on deaf ears.

A month later, to keep relations with Tel Aviv alive, Chinese ambassador to Israel Cai Run delivered a signed copy of Chinese leader Xi’s book to Prime Minister Netanyahu. The ambassador’s message was clear: Xi wants to meet with the Israeli leader as soon as possible.

Whatever the reasons for China’s offer to mediate, it is unlikely for now that it will be put to the test regarding the new Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Beijing therefore sees mediation attempts fading in a region historically known for Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. different Villages. And most of all, Xi’s narrative that sees the East and the global South on the rise and the West in bankruptcy is weakening. Therefore, it is better for the Chinese leader to wait in the hope that tensions will ease and once again put himself in place as a peace mediator between Israel and Palestine.

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Source: Today IT

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