China’s leader told Arab leaders that Israel’s war on Gaza “should not continue indefinitely” and promised more aid.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for a peace conference aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ending the “tremendous suffering” in Gaza.
Addressing Arab leaders at the Forum on China-Arab States Cooperation in Beijing on Thursday, Xi said Israel’s war on Gaza “should not continue indefinitely” and “justice should not be lost forever.”
The comments come as Israel intensifies its offensive in the Gaza Strip, seizing the strategic Philadelphia Corridor on the territory’s border with Egypt and launching a new offensive into northern Gaza, with Israel’s national security adviser suggesting on Wednesday that the war was likely to continue for another seven months.
Xi said China will continue to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis and post-war reconstruction in the Gaza Strip, pledging an additional 500 million yuan ($69 million) in emergency humanitarian aid.
Xi also said the country would donate $3 million to the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to help provide emergency aid to Gaza.
Diplomatic influence
China has repeatedly called for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, an immediate ceasefire and Palestine’s membership in the United Nations, a position that is broadly consistent with that of Arab countries.
China is increasingly wielding diplomatic influence in the region and in April hosted the first-ever meeting between Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah in China.
Last year, China brokered a landmark reconciliation agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, longtime enemies of each other.
“The Middle East is a land of great potential for development, but wars continue to exist there,” Xi said, speaking before the leaders of Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia, as well as foreign ministers from Arab League member states.
Analysts say China is seeking to use the war in Gaza to bolster its standing in the region and counter what it sees as U.S. inaction in efforts to end the conflict.
“Beijing sees the ongoing conflict as a golden opportunity to criticise the West’s double standards on the international stage and call for an alternative world order,” Camille Rons, a policy researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP.
On trade, Xi said China, a big buyer of Gulf energy, will further cooperate with Arab countries in several areas, including the oil and gas sector.
He pledged to help Chinese energy companies and financial institutions participate in renewable energy projects in Arab countries with a total installed capacity of more than 3 million kilowatts.
