A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman claimed that Middle Eastern countries hope Beijing plays “a greater role in deescalating” the ongoing Israeli self-defense operation in Gaza against the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas.
Lin Jian, who began serving as a spokesman for the ministry this week, was responding to a request for more information on a tour that Chinese Ambassador Wang Kejian recently concluded to the Middle East, with stops in Israel, Egypt, and Qatar to meet with the head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas Political Bureau, during the 8th Ordinary Congress of the Movement for a Peaceful Society (MSP), in Algiers, Algeria, on March 16, 2023 (Amine Chikhi/APP/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The Chinese Communist Party has prominently supported anti-Israel positions at the United Nations and other international stages in the months following the October 7 massacre of an estimated 1,200 people by Hamas in Israel. On that day, the Hamas jihadists invaded Israel from Gaza and targeted residential communities, killing entire families, including children as young as infants, in their homes and engaging in gang rape, torture, and desecration of corpses, among other atrocities.
Israel responded with an ongoing self-defense operation in Gaza intended to make it impossible for Hamas to recreate the attack. China, Israel’s Muslim neighbors, and allied dictatorships such as Russia and Venezuela have all condemned Israel for attempting to protect its civilian population. The Israeli government has also faced pressure from the leftist administration of American President Joe Biden to allow Hamas to continue thriving in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, which sits on the border with Egypt.
The meeting between Wang and Haniyeh marked the first time a senior representative of the Chinese government met with Hamas leadership since October 7. Beijing offered few details on the encounter, which reportedly occurred in the Hamas haven of Qatar, but a statement from Hamas claimed that the Chinese officials said they were “keen” to expand ties to Hamas and considered the terrorists a legitimate part of the “Palestinian” political ecosystem.
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C-SPANHaniyeh, on his end, reportedly “praised the role that China plays in the Security Council, the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, and in sending humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”
China has maintained friendly relations with Hamas, and similar jihadist groups such as the Taliban, despite executing an ongoing genocide of Muslim indigenous populations in occupied East Turkistan, which China refers to using the Mandarin name “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” (XUAR).
In this handout photo released by Taliban Prime Minister Media Office, China’s new ambassador to Afghanistan Zhao Sheng shakes hand with Taliban Prime Minister Mohammad Hasan Akhund, left, during the recognition ceremony at the Presidential Palace, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on September 13, 2023. (Taliban Prime Minister Media Office via AP)
Lin, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, did not mention Hamas in his remarks on Wednesday. Instead, he emphasized that the Chinese delegation visited Egypt and Israel in addition to Qatar.
“Recently, Ambassador Wang Kejian visited Egypt, Palestine, Israel and Qatar in the Middle East for the early deescalation of the situation in Gaza,” Lin said. “Relevant parties widely appreciated China’s just position and active efforts to achieve a ceasefire, ease the humanitarian situation, and avoid the further spillover of the conflict.”
“They look to China playing a greater role in deescalating the conflict and cooling down the situation,” he claimed.
“China has actively encouraged all factions in Palestine to achieve internal reconciliation through dialogue and firmly supported ‘the Palestinians governing Palestine,'” Lin concluded. “We call for Palestine’s full membership in the UN and a more broad-based, more authoritative, and more effective international peace conference to work out a timetable and road map for the two-State solution.”
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During the Foreign Ministry briefing on Thursday, Lin regurgitated Hamas’s dubious casualty counts in Gaza, declaring, “nothing can justify the inaction of the international community.” The spokesman pressured the world to do more, without specifying exactly what beyond organizing a conference, to prevent the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from eradicating the threat of Hamas.
“The international community needs to act urgently, set the ceasefire as an overwhelming priority and humanitarian aid as a pressing moral responsibility,” Lin demanded, “and hold a more broad-based, authoritative, and effective international peace conference as early as possible.”
China has been transparently anti-Israel and pro-Hamas since October 7. Dictator Xi Jinping has personally demanded a “ceasefire” – a call for Israel not to act to prevent another Hamas invasion – and Beijing’s representatives at the United Nations Security Council have called for ceasefire statements without recognizing Israel’s right to self-defense.
“Stop all violence and attacks against civilians, release civilians held captive, and act to prevent loss of more lives and spare people from more miseries,” Xi ordered Israel in remarks in November during an emergency meeting of members of the BRICS coalition. “The collective punishment of people in Gaza in the form of forced transfer or water, electricity and fuel deprivation must stop.”
BRICS originally consisted of the governments of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. As of January, several Middle Eastern nations –Iran, Egypt, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia – were invited to join. They participated in the November summit as their membership was processed.
China took over the presidency of the U.N. Security Council in November for the typical one-month term, taking the helm at a critical time in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack. It used the position to demand a “ceasefire” on the part of the IDF and block attempts to support Israel’s right to self-defense.
