Israel-Gaza mediation role will require China to work with other powers, Xiangshan forum hears
- Middle East discussion panel at Beijing event says new security architecture needs to be built on multipolar geopolitical framework
- The panellists urge China and other major powers to work together for an immediate ceasefire to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe
They urged the major powers, including China, the United States, Russia, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, to work together for an immediate ceasefire and prevent the crisis from descending into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post at the margins of the forum, panellist Wang Lincong from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, said Beijing could play a mediating role.
“But the most important and urgent task for China now is to work with the major countries for an immediate ceasefire to prevent the current crisis from further escalating. Otherwise, nothing can be done.”
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Israel has vowed to wipe out Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for the killing of at least 1,400 Israelis and foreigners in its shock attacks on October 7 in which more than 200 hostages were also taken.
Li Shaoxian, a Middle East specialist at Ningxia University who attended the session, said the turbulent situation in the Middle East had been caused by the US rolling back its engagement from the region from late 2020.
Li said Washington’s influence in the region was declining and he blamed the US for not doing more over the past decade to push for reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians.
“Despite its fading influence, the US is still the world’s only power capable of pushing and driving Israel to come to the negotiating table and talk to Palestinians,” he said.
“China and the US do not have a conflict of interest in the Middle East, but share common interests if they can work together to achieve long-lasting stability and peace in the region.”
Tehran University professor Safavi Homami Seyed Hamzeh said he was in favour of China playing a mediation role and that Muslim countries in the region would welcome Beijing’s stance of supporting the Palestinians’ right to statehood.
Another panellist Israeli Carice Witte, founder and executive director of the Sino-Israel Global Network and Academic Leadership, agreed that a new security mechanism was needed to guarantee the fundamental human rights of the local populations.
But she said Beijing would have to be prepared to “take risks” if it wanted to play the role of mediator, pointing out that China had been reluctant to call Hamas a terrorist organisation because it had historically followed the stance of Arab countries.
“China should … have some quiet conversations with [the Arab countries] and understand the more complex thinking behind some of the Arab leaders’ decisions,” Witte said.
“That might [not only] help China in setting a productive, useful, and valuable path of actions to address this current challenge, but also to potentially contribute to the larger picture of a longer-term solution.”
China vetoes ‘evasive’ US proposal on Gaza at deadlocked UN Security Council
Witte referred to last week’s veto by China and Russia of a UN Security Council resolution as an example of the problems Beijing was facing in presenting itself as a mediator in the conflict.
The US-drafted resolution – which China described a “evasive” and “seriously out of balance” – called for a pause in the violence to allow aid access and reaffirmed the inherent right of all states to self-defence while complying with international law.
“[The veto] gives us the sense that China is either not identifying the real challenge, or it is because of its position of supporting and standing by the Palestinians historically, and not balancing with an understanding of Israel’s security needs,” Witte said.
“That puts us in Israel in a challenging position to work with China in bringing any kind of improvement to the situation even if we would like to, but we need to see that China is an equal and honest broker.”
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Wang and Li each said Beijing understood the risks, pointing out that the conflict was also damaging to China’s interests in the region.
Wang said China’s special envoy to the Middle East, Zhai Jun, kicked off his mediation tour of meetings with Arab leaders and politicians soon after the conflict erupted last month.
“China also agreed to work with the US to push for peace and stability in the Middle East,” he said.
Li said China had always played a role in promoting dialogue and peace talks for long-term stability, with the pushing of normalised diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia just one example.
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“Iranian-Saudi normalisation has also driven a wave of reconciliation, which has seen Syria returning to the Arab League, and the civil war in Yemen has approached a ceasefire,” Li said.
“There are three essential bilateral relations making up the long-term peace and stability of the Middle East: Saudi-Iran, Israel-Palestine, and Israel-Iran,” he said.
“Now, the first one has been settled, while the other two need all major powers to work together to achieve them.”
