Jakarta –
Shahdan, during World War II as many as 20,000 Jews from Europe found refuge in Shanghai, China. However, the flight ended after the war, when the Communist Party seized power and forced Jewish traders to sell their assets to the government at low prices. As a result, they fled from China.
For a long time, China harbored prejudice against Jews and early extended its support to Palestine. Only in 1992, Israel and China opened diplomatic representative offices to each other.
Trade and dispute with Israel
Since normalization, China has had more trade partnerships with Israel, which in 2023 recorded a volume worth 22 billion US dollars. Last October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scheduled to travel to Beijing. There, the heads of state of the two countries will actually sign a free trade agreement. The visit was postponed after terror attacks by Hamas.
It is the proximity to the United States that differentiates Israel from other countries. Not long ago, China’s Ambassador to the UN, Zang Jun, called on “world superpowers that have great influence over both affected parties to put aside their own geopolitical interests and work to end the war and restore peace,” he said without mentioning the US.
According to analysts, the two countries are separated by fundamental differences that cannot be bridged. “Israel is a democratic country, deeply rooted in its alliance with the United States,” said Eberhard Sandschneider, a political consultant at Berlin Global Advisors. “Therefore, from China’s perspective, Israel is a rival in its efforts to strengthen its anti-Western alliance.”
The relevance of Palestine for China
It is not surprising that in the conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, China criticized Israel more.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, for example, called Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip “excessive” and beyond the definition of self-defense. Civilians in the Gaza Strip should not receive collective punishment for Hamas’ crimes, he said.
In line with the West, China only maintains regular communications with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank of Jordan, not with Hamas. The sovereignty of the government headquartered in Ramallah is recognized by 138 countries in the world, except the United States, Israel and Germany.
In the final declaration after the meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Mahmoud Abbas on June 14, China stated that it “supports the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as the capital. China also supports the restoration of peace negotiations between Palestine and Israel on the basis of the principles of Land for Peace, all related UN resolutions and the Two-State Solution.”
In response, Palestine pursues a “One China” foreign policy and supports Beijing’s policy in the Xinjiang autonomous region as a “war against terrorism, radicalization and separatism, and does not concern human rights.”
“Supporting the independence movement is one of the pillars of China’s foreign policy,” said political expert Sandschneider. “Except when it comes to Xinjiang or Taiwan,” he added.
Sandschneider believes that China “is trying to appear as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and Palestine,” especially after successfully initiating diplomatic restoration between Iran and Saudi Arabia. However, he doubted such intentions, as Beijing’s “credibility on the specific issue between Israel and Hamas is not that great.”
(rzn/cell)
(ita/ita)
2023-11-09 05:10:25
#China #stand #IsraeliPalestinian #conflict
