China’s post-Gaza war ambitions will have to include Israel eventually: experts

Beijing’s diplomatic efforts since conflict’s outbreak have been weighted towards its Arab partners and disregarded by Tel Aviv

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Published: 6:00am, 18 Aug 2024

With the Israel-Gaza war in its 10th month and the prospect of a widening in the conflict to include Iran, Washington and Beijing have stepped up their diplomatic efforts in recent weeks to exert their influence and achieve a ceasefire.

Israel has welcomed the interventions of the United States, its long-standing ally, promising to send negotiators to ceasefire and hostage release talks backed by the US, Qatar and Egypt.

But Tel Aviv largely gave the cold shoulder to a Beijing-brokered reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian groups including Hamas and Fatah – reached in early July in readiness for a potential agreement on post-war governance.

Chinese diplomats have also largely avoided stops in Israel in their rounds of shuttle diplomacy to find an end to the crisis.

After decades of a balanced approach to Middle East diplomacy, China’s unambiguous support for the Palestinian cause in the Israel-Gaza war has increased Beijing’s leverage with the Arab nations and Iran, but at what cost to its ties with Tel Aviv, now and after the war?

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (fourth from left) hosts the signing of the “Beijing declaration” between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas in Beijing on July 23, 2024. Photo: AP

There has been little high-level communication between Tel Aviv and Beijing since the war in Gaza started with the attack on Israel last October by the militant group Hamas, which took hundreds of hostages and left 1,200 Israelis dead.