As the international community struggles to put an end to the ongoing Hamas-Israel war amid chaotic and complex global political moves, China’s role in the entire conflict is becoming clearer as it deepens. While China’s stand has been ambiguous, some emerging evidence suggest Beijing may desire the Gaza conflict continues for geopolitical reasons.
China offered to work on a plan to end the Hamas-Israel conflict even as it vetoed the resolution for UN action on the Gaza conflict.[1][2] “China is looking to play a diplomatic role by calling for calm and de-escalation and – at the same time – showing strong support for Palestine,” said Sanam Vakil, Middle East expert at London-based Chatham House. “This should be seen sort of opportunistically.”[3]
Beijing appears to have tried to incite the emotions in the sensitive matter by proposing the “two-state solution”, further damaging the efforts of conciliation. “When people are being murdered, slaughtered in the streets, this is not the time to call for a two-state solution,” said Yuval Waks, a senior official at the Israeli embassy in Beijing.[4] China has criticised Israel but it has gone soft on Hamas as it seeks to refrain from offending Arabs.
Even though the current humanitarian conflict is detrimental to China’s economic interest, Beijing’s statements and actions seem to be indifferent to it. China expert Gordon G. Chang said China was fuelling the Hamas attacks as it sought to change the world order. “Xi Jinping is not promoting peace in the Middle East. He is rather continuing to stoke war,” Chang said. “China’s actions in recent years reveal not just that China has been pushing war in the Middle East, but that it knew it was doing so.”[5]
Beijing is trying to grow its influence in the Middle East as China is not considered a qualified mediator in the region. Jonathan Fulton, an Associate Professor at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed University, said “China is not a serious actor on this issue. Talking to people around the region, nobody expects China to contribute to the solution”.[6] Dale Aluf, research director at the Sino-Israel Global Network & Academic Leadership (SIGNAL) group, said “Chinese media’s critical coverage of US involvement in the Middle East suggests an attempt by Beijing to draw political capital away from the US while positioning itself as a responsible global player.”[7]
Besides political reasons, China’s growing arms sector is likely to be another reason why Beijing could be stocking conflict in the Middle East. China-Israel relations expert Carice Witte said “China has an extensive arms industry. By definition, it does not sell weapons to non-state entities, it certainly does sell weapons to countries in the Middle East,” she said.[8][9]
During the Gaza war, Hamas is using advanced Chinese weapons, which has perturbed Israel as well as those who have backed Hamas. The modern Chinese weapons recovered from Gaza include telescopic sights for rifles and cartridges for M16s, 50-caliber machine guns, listening devices and tactical military radios, and sophisticated explosives, among others.[10]
An Israeli intelligence official expressed concerns over the large cache of top-grade Chinese weapons and communication devices. “This has come as a big surprise as before the war, relations were very good, but we have found massive amounts of Chinese weaponry and the question is, did it come directly from China to Hamas or not?” the official said.[11][12]
Beijing-based journalist Mu Chunshan said conspiracy theories are making rounds in Chinese society, which are antisemitic in nature. “During this Gaza war, many Chinese netizens are still spreading such antisemitic rumors. It is easy to be brainwashed by conspiracy theories flowing freely on the internet,” he wrote.[13] Yaqiu Wang, a research director at a Washington-based think tank Freedom House, questioned the free flow of inflammatory information about the Hamas-Israel crisis on Chinese social media space, where messages and post are controlled, monitored and censored by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government. He said it meant “the hate speech that remains uncensored reflects the regime’s decisions.”
[1] https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-china-veto-us-push-for-un-action-on-israel-gaza/7327180.html
[2] https://www.removepaywall.com/article/current
[3] https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/23/china/china-middle-east-envoy-mediation-intl-hnk/index.html
[4] https://www.reuters.com/world/israel-expected-stronger-condemnation-hamas-china-beijing-embassy-official-2023-10-08/
[5] https://www.newsweek.com/china-fueling-hamas-attacks-opinion-1846962
[6] https://www.newarab.com/analysis/can-china-serve-mediator-gaza-war
[7] https://themedialine.org/by-region/china-playing-a-careful-role-in-the-israel-hamas-war-to-balance-its-interests/
[8] https://www.thedefensepost.com/2024/01/02/chinese-weapons-found-gaza/
[9] https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-780154
[10] https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2023/10/14/hamas-weapons-used-oren-liebermann-dnt-ebof-vpx.cnn
[11] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/05/hamas-stockpile-chinese-weaponry-gaza-israel-investigates/
[12] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-china-wants-to-shape-the-world-alongside-the-united-states-so-what/
[13] https://thediplomat.com/2023/10/the-chinese-public-is-closely-watching-the-israel-hamas-war/
Author
