Earlier this year, China had pledged to help facilitate negotiations
between Israel and the Palestinians. Chinese state media trumpeted the
possibility of a settlement based on a three-part proposal by Chinese President
Xi Jinping. But the outbreak of severe violence may have shattered those hopes
for the foreseeable future, while creating new challenges for China.
"This is like a tightrope walk that
they have to perform," said Moritz Rudolf, a China scholar and fellow at
Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center. "They have an economic interest
in the stability of the region and they also have increased their political
role."
After Hamas launched a deadly surprise
attack on Saturday - firing thousands of rockets, sending fighters into Israeli
communities and taking hostages back to Gaza - countries in Asia and around the
world quickly condemned the killing of civilians. The death toll in Israel
has surpassed 900, while nearly 700 have been killed on the Palestinian side
amid a wave of retaliatory airstrikes on Gaza, according to local officials.
Unlike the United States, India, Japan and others, which have come out
forcefully in support of Israel, the Chinese government has maintained a
neutral position.
Beijing's official response to the Hamas
attack on Saturday called for an immediate cease-fire and repeated its support
for a two-state solution with an independent State of Palestine as a way out of
the conflict. It did not condemn Hamas.
On Sunday, China's permanent representative
to the United Nations, Zhan Jun, said China was worried about escalation.
"What's important is to prevent further escalation of the
situation and casualties of civilians," Zhang told reporters before an
emergency closed-door security meeting. "We condemn all attacks against
civilians," he stressed.
President Xi has yet to make any public
statement.
Historically, China has had close
diplomatic ties with Palestinian leaders. The president of the Palestinian
Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, this year made his fifth official visit to China in
his nearly two decades in office. But in recent years, China has also deepened
relations with Israel, investing in infrastructure and the country's vibrant
technology sector.
Beijing's muted initial reaction to the violence
did not go unnoticed.
On Sunday, Yuval Waks, a senior official at
the Israeli Embassy in Beijing, said his country expected a stronger response
from the world's second-largest economy.
"When people are being murdered, slaughtered in the streets, this
is not the time to call for a two-state solution," Waks told reporters.
"We believe that China as a superpower in this world ... should have taken
a stronger stand."
But Beijing appears more comfortable
playing a mediator role. In March, China brokered discussions between bitter
rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, enabling a diplomatic rapprochement. Analysts saw
this as a challenge to US influence in the region.
In June, China outlined its vision for brokering peace between Israel
and the Palestinians. But in doing so, it stuck its neck into a delicate
situation that has vexed the US and other powers for decades.
Even though Israel and the Palestinians
signed the Oslo Accords in September 1993, agreeing on a road map to peace,
unsuccessful negotiations for a two-state solution have perpetuated tensions
and violence. Talks have stalled since 2014, and the prospect of a deal appears
to have become even more remote under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's right-wing coalition government and Hamas' sudden offensive.
Some observers argue that Beijing's silence
on Hamas casts doubt on its ability to realize its ambitions in the region.
"China is still not willing to call
Hamas out directly, and instead has tried to refer to them as combatants using
language as ambiguous as possible, because it doesn't want to be seen as
betraying its developing world friends - especially when that friend is engaged
in hostilities against a leading US ally, namely Israel," said Wen-Ti
Sung, a political scientist focusing on China at Australian National
University.
Indeed, the conflict could further
complicate China's already tense relations with Washington.
Xi on Monday met with US Senate leader
Chuck Schumer, who was visiting with a bipartisan congressional delegation.
Schumer expressed disappointment with China's lack of sympathy for Israel.
"I urge you and the Chinese people to stand with the Israeli people and
condemn the cowardly and vicious attacks," Schumer said to Xi.
After Schumer's visit, China's foreign
ministry stressed that it condemns all violence and attacks on civilians and
that the most urgent task now is to reach a ceasefire and restore peace. The US
senator, writing on Xi, claimed credit: "I pointedly asked that they
strengthen their statement. They did."
The same day, however, the Chinese state
mouthpiece Global Times published an article criticizing American support for
Israel, arguing it will only fan the conflict. "Israel already outweighs
Palestine in terms of military might; if the US wants peace, it should take
actions to calm down the situation, instead of giving one-sided support to
Israel," Tian Wenlin, a research fellow at the China Institutes of
Contemporary International Relations, was quoted as saying.
The story suggested that the pressure from
Schumer is part of a US attempt to morally abduct China.
For now, Yale's Rudolf said that China will
likely take a more risk-averse approach that advocates for humanity and
civilians, without positioning itself on either side.
"The key thing is for China, they
don't want to get sucked into this conflict," he said. "At some
point, when great powers are to meet and to talk about this situation, China
just wants to have a seat at the table, and the difference now is that they're
taking it more seriously."
Courtesy: Nikki
Asia
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