I never say confirmed, I am still finding out.
1. why hamas has poliburo? nobody can answer it
2. why the attack started immediately after asian games?
3. i never say beijing instigates the attack, maybe they are aware of the plan
4. what is hamas stance on the uighur issue?
The last thing that China wants is a war in the Middle East because it screws up their plan for soft diplomacy in the region. Now they're caught in a bind between their biggest trading partner Israel and their Arab friends.
Only a deluded clown like our resident China-hating Islamophobic Hindu extremist @duluxe would fantasize about China's hand in every conflict in the world. The CCP has far more important local economic and corruption problems to solve than to muddle around in the world's biggest cesspool.
The US has its finger in every pie. The Chinese are not there. Yet. LOL.
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Israel-Hamas war poses new questions for China’s Middle East policy: Experts
Lim Min Zhang
China Correspondent
UPDATED 1 HOUR AGO
BEIJING –
The Israel-Hamas war has sparked contrasting reactions from the United States and China, with the ongoing hostilities posing new questions for Beijing’s Middle East policy, said experts.
US President Joe Biden pledged moral and military support for its long-standing ally Israel in a televised speech on Tuesday from the White House, calling the violent actions of Hamas “abhorrent” and adding that these cannot be justified.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Monday that China is “deeply saddened by the civilian casualties and oppose and condemn acts that harm civilians”.
“We oppose moves that escalate the conflict and destabilise the region and hope fighting will stop and peace will return soon,” she added, noting that the “Palestine question” must be settled while taking care of “each party’s legitimate concerns” to end the cycle of conflict.
Much like the tightrope it had to walk when the
Russia-Ukraine war broke out in 2022, Beijing’s efforts not to criticise either side has again come under scrutiny, particularly as it has recently signalled its willingness to play a bigger role in facilitating peace in the Middle East.
Professor Joseph Liow, dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University, told The Straits Times that China is trying to maintain a delicate balancing act between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Historically, Beijing has been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, in no small part because of its anti-imperialist agenda, he added. Today, China has reservations about being on the same side as the US, in this case supporting Israel, as they are strategic competitors.
On the other hand, China has improved relations with Israel over the years, although there are still concerns in Israel over China’s relationship with Iran, said Prof Liow, an international relations expert. Since the 2000s, China has ramped up investments and undertaken greater involvement in infrastructure projects in Israel. The number of Chinese visiting Israel has also grown.
“At this point, China will have little influence over events as they unfold, and likely would not want to be too overtly involved in any case. They will, however, be following things very closely, looking out for, for example, the degree of American recommitment to the Middle East,” he added.
Already, China has faced pressure from the US to do more. In Beijing on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged President Xi Jinping to take a stronger stance on the war, and called for China to use its influence with Iran to stop the conflict from spreading.
He told reporters later that he welcomed an updated statement by China’s Foreign Ministry, which condemned the attacks in Israel and the Gaza Strip – a line missing in its initial response last Saturday.
China has been expanding its political clout with Middle East countries in recent years, building on its traditional energy and economic interests, although experts have doubts about Beijing’s capacity and interest to be a bigger influence in the region like the US.
In a Beijing meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in June, Mr Xi proposed an international peace conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and said China is willing to play an active role in facilitating peace talks.
Mr Xi also put forward a three-point proposal to solve the conflict: establishing an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital; channelling more development assistance to Palestinians; and creating the right conditions for the resumption of peace talks.
In March,
China brokered discussions between bitter rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, resulting in an agreement to restore ties between Riyadh and Teheran – a diplomatic breakthrough that led to debates about how much of a challenge this presented to US influence in the region.
On Tuesday, China’s Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue Zhai Jun said China is ready to work with Egypt – which is the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel and had previously helped secure a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas – to end hostilities. Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza, is concerned about a mass exodus of Palestinians into its Sinai peninsula.
The root cause of the cycle of conflict is that the Palestine question still has not been settled in a just manner, said Mr Zhai in a phone call with an Egyptian Foreign Ministry official, and the fundamental way out lies in implementing the two-state solution.
A day later, Mr Zhai had another call, this time with First Deputy Foreign Minister of Palestine Amal Jadou, reiterating China’s commitment and adding that it will “play a constructive role in promoting a full, just and lasting settlement of the Palestine question”.
But China-Israel relations expert Carice Witte believes Beijing’s current stance is untenable. She told ST it is difficult to see how China can be seen as a neutral actor, with Beijing refusing to call out Hamas for its violent actions.
Many who support the Palestinian aim for a state have acknowledged the heinous crimes by Hamas have nothing to do with self-determination, added Ms Witte, who is executive director of the Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership, an Israel-based think-tank.
“To not clearly oppose Hamas is to support Hamas,” she said. “If China’s stance on Hamas changes drastically, or if it influences Iran to end (Hamas’) call for the evisceration of the Jewish state, then perhaps it will be able to play a role in mediation between Israel and the Palestine Authority.”
Assistant Professor Benjamin Ho of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, who specialises in Chinese foreign policy, said China has little interest to be involved in the conflict in a big way.
He told ST that he has doubts about the Chinese having a sustained interest in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “So long as the conflict doesn’t touch them, they would rather let other countries muddle into the swamp while it remains focused on its interests elsewhere.”
International relations scholar Shi Yinhong of Renmin University told ST that the Chinese position on the conflict is clear: The Israelis and Hamas should agree to an immediate ceasefire and an independent Palestinian state as the final solution.
However, both sides, as well as the US and its Western allies – whom he believes will support Israel to fight at least a war of revenge to the end – will not pay real attention to Chinese proposals, he added. “So for a while at least, Beijing’s Middle East policy will be paralysed by the war.”
On the impact of the Israel-Hamas war on US-China ties, he said: “US-China relations have been bad enough, and the war in the Middle East cannot make them remarkably worse.”
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/e...stions-for-china-s-middle-east-policy-experts
