Chinese Presidents Claim on Israel and Middle East Problems Fact-Checked

A Chinese saying goes: “To stop the pot from boiling, remove the firewood rather than merely skim off the foam.” This highlights that to truly solve a problem, one must address its root cause instead of just easing its symptoms. The question of Palestine is at the heart of the problems in the Middle East. The security of countries in the region, including Israel ...

Beijing has rebuked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks that China was organising an attack on the legitimacy of the state of Israel. But a video that circulated online does not show a Chinese government spokesman responding ...

China has repeatedly called for peace talks to resolve the Gaza war, sparked by an unprecedented Hamas attack in October 2023 to which Israel retaliated with a blistering attack on the Palestinian territory.

China firmly supports the just cause of the Palestinian people in restoring their legitimate national rights. We will continue to work with the international community to promote a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in Gaza, alleviate the humanitarian crisis, and strive for the implementation ...

In fact, a close examination of Beijing’s official statements and activities, commentaries in state media, and social media narratives around the Israel-Hamas war reveals that while China seeks to portray itself as a proponent for peace and to signal its alignment with many non-Western states in advocating for the Palestinian cause, it remains reluctant to assume a substantive role in the ongoing conflict.

It issued strong condemnations of Israel’s preemptive strikes, called for an immediate cease-fire, and launched a flurry of diplomatic activity at the United Nations. Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s denunciation of Israeli aggression as a violation of international law and President Xi Jinping’s subsequent calls for de-escalation framed China as a responsible power defending global stability.

For some time after the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was diplomatically isolated, because the United States and its allies, including Israel, recognized the Republic of China (ROC, commonly known as Taiwan after 1949) as the sole legitimate government of China. The Nationalist government of the ROC had been historically sympathetic to the Zionist cause, while ROC founder Sun Yat-sen affirmed his support for the creation of a Jewish state.

30: President Xi sends congratulatory ... conflict is the fact that the realization of the legitimate national right of Palestinians to establish an independent State of Palestine is long overdue....

Noting this, Aaron Keyak, the Biden administration's deputy envoy on antisemitism, observed in January, “Because we know the Chinese internet is not free, that's a conscious decision by the Chinese government to allow that kind of rhetoric to be greatly increased.” · Similarly, when Iran sent a unprecedented volley of missiles and drones toward Israel last month, Beijing referred to it as an “act of self-defense” in response to an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic compound in Damascus.