China is ramping up its diplomatic engagement in the Middle East amid calls for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas as the situation in Gaza rapidly worsens.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke Monday with his counterparts from Israel and the Palestinian Authority and urged a de-escalation of the crisis, emphasizing Beijing’s support for the Palestinian cause and a two-state solution.
“The current Palestinian-Israeli conflict affects the whole world and involves a major choice between war and peace,” Mr. Wang told Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Eli Cohen, according to Chinese state media. “China is deeply concerned about the continued escalation of the conflict and the worsening situation, and deeply saddened by the large number of civilian casualties.”
Israel has not released its own readout of the call, but Chinese reports noted that Mr. Cohen “introduced Israel’s position and security concerns on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”
In his conversation with Mr. Wang, Riyad al-Maliki, the Foreign Affairs Minister for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, “expressed heartfelt thanks to the Chinese side for upholding justice, making a clear and strong statement, standing firmly with the Palestinian people, and providing emergency humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian side,” Chinese state media reported.
China has long supported the Palestinian cause, dating back to the Mao Zedong era, but in recent years has grown closer to Israel, increasing trade and co-operating on anti-terrorism measures. After Beijing’s successful brokering of talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, some Chinese officials suggested the country could also play peacemaker in the Middle East’s most intransigent conflict.
The man tasked with exploring that possibility, special Middle East envoy Zhai Jun, is currently on a whirlwind diplomatic tour of the region. On Sunday, Mr. Zhai attended a peace summit in Cairo, where he was praised by Arab leaders for China’s role in pushing for a ceasefire.
How much leverage China can actually bring to bear is unclear. Beijing has strong ties with the Palestinian Authority – whose President, Mahmoud Abbas, travelled to the Chinese capital in June, where he met with President Xi Jinping – but no significant engagement with Hamas. China is close to Iran, however, which helps fund the militant group, and some have suggested Beijing could lobby Tehran to avoid an escalation of the conflict, either directly or through its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.
Beijing’s influence in Israel, meanwhile, has been damaged by China’s initial response to the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, which focused more on Israel’s retaliation than the killing of Israeli civilians.
After Israel expressed “deep disappointment” with that response, Mr. Wang appeared to walk it back somewhat, condemning “all acts that harm civilians.” In his call with Mr. Cohen this week, he also noted Israel’s “right to self-defence,” while adding that this right was subject to international law and should minimize harm to civilians.
Later this week, Mr. Wang is due to travel to Washington, where he will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, ahead of an expected summit between Mr. Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden in November. According to multiple U.S. media reports, officials in Washington plan to push Mr. Wang on taking a firmer line against Hamas and ensuring the conflict does not escalate.
Speaking to Bloomberg, U.S. ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said Washington “would like all countries, including China, to denounce terrorism by Hamas.”
“We have a lot of challenges in the U.S.-China relationship. We do not have identical views on this particular position,” Mr. Burns said, noting that China’s support for a two-state solution is out of step with Hamas’s position, which “supports the destruction of the state of Israel.”
“The focus here should be directed at Hamas,” he said.
Craig Singleton, the China program deputy director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, D.C., think tank, wrote last week that Beijing likely sees the conflict as an opportunity to increase its influence in the Middle East amid anger over America’s embrace of Israel and support for its assault on Gaza.
He compared it to China’s stated neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine war, which, while not convincing to many in the West, given Beijing’s continued high-level engagement with Moscow, has won praise in the developing world, where some countries are frustrated that the U.S. and European countries are not doing more to push for peace.
Chinese state media have been highly critical of Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the growing civilian death toll. Reports have also highlighted the role of the U.S. in the conflict, with the China Daily on Monday accusing Washington of “adding fuel to the fire by blindly backing Israel.”
In an editorial, the state-run tabloid Global Times said “the marginalization of the Palestinian issue by the U.S. and European powers is a major contributing factor” in the conflict. By contrast, the paper said, China has continued to push for a two-state solution.
“The rekindling of the Israel-Palestine conflict poses a serious challenge to the hegemony of the U.S. and its dominant order,” the editorial added.