My Take | China must avoid joining Great Game in Middle East

How far should China commit itself to enhance its standing in the Middle East?

Israeli ambassador to China Matan Vilnai has some advice for Beijing.

The conflict in Gaza would be "very complicated" for Beijing to solve, he said. Generally, he added, "dealing with the Middle East is very dangerous. It is very complicated, and I am not sure that China is prepared to do it, because it is not easy and there is not a simple way to do it".

Vilnai's comments have been called "condescending". For one, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is actually not complicated to understand. The outlines and perquisites for a viable peace settlement have been widely known for decades.

What Vilnai is really saying, in a coded message, is that Palestine is Israel's backyard. To the extent that Israel, unlike most Western democracies, almost never comments on the situations in Tibet and Xinjiang , Beijing may actually find Vilnai's statement reasonable: you don't call me out, I won't call you out.

Tel Aviv and Beijing are among the most cynical practitioners of realpolitik; the two should have no difficulty understanding each other.