By: Jianli Yang – June 10, 2021
China’s diplomatic stance toward the recent armed conflict between Israel and Hamas has been prominent. At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council when China chaired it, Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forward a four-point proposal that stressed the urgent need for a ceasefire to stop the violence. It also called on both sides to restart peace talks based on the two-state solution, and to establish a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Wang criticized, without naming names, the United States for favoring Israel and blocking the Security Council from issuing a statement condemning it.
Wang Yi said that he would welcome direct talks between Palestinian and Israeli negotiators in China, making a play for the international spotlight and the moral high ground as a peacemaker. From Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping, China has always supported Palestine, channeling anti-colonial and anti-American clichés with the apparent aim to bring Arab states to China’s side against the US.
This tendency took a grotesque form in a May 18 official Chinese CGTN broadcast, when host Zheng Junfeng deployed classic antisemitic rhetoric, claiming America’s support for Israel resulted from being manipulated by Jews. “Some people believe that US pro-Israeli policy is traceable to the influence of wealthy Jews in the US and the Jewish lobby on US foreign policy makers,” he intoned, continuing that “Jews dominate finance and internet sectors. So do they have the powerful lobbies some say? Possible.” Israeli officials denounced the broadcast… [Continue Reading]
Source: https://providencemag.com/2021/06/china-geopolitical-israel-palestine-peacemaker-ambitions/