Israel’s ambassador to China called on Beijing to leverage its close relationship with Iran to rein in Hamas, saying the Asian giant needed to be engaged in talks around the conflict.
(Bloomberg) — Israel’s ambassador to China called on Beijing to leverage its close relationship with Iran to rein in Hamas, saying the Asian giant needed to be engaged in talks around the conflict.
“We really hope China can be much more involved in talking to its close partners in the Middle East and particularly Iran,” Irit Ben-Abba told Bloomberg TV in an interview Thursday. “Iran is definitely very much involved in what has happened.”
Ben-Abba’s remarks come as China’s willingness to entangle itself in some of the region’s most intractable conflicts has come under scrutiny. A US senator confronted President Xi Jinping this week about his government’s failure to condemn the surprise Oct. 7 strike by Hamas on Israel that killed hundreds of civilians.
While China’s Foreign Ministry later said it was “saddened” by the casualties, Beijing hasn’t criticized Hamas in its statements only saying that the Asian country is a “friend to both” sides of the conflict.
For more on the Israel-Hamas war, click here.
While Tehran is a known backer of Hamas, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has denied his country was involved in the strike.
China until recently didn’t have a record of negotiating peace deals. That changed when in March it helped broker a tentative detente between Iran and Saudi Arabia, after years of diplomatic deadlock between the historic rivals. The deal marked a departure from Beijing’s long-stated reluctance to involve itself in foreign disputes.
First Contact
Zhai Jun, Beijing’s special envoy on Middle East issues, is expected to speak to Israeli officials on Thursday, according to Ben-Abba. That will mark China’s first public contact with the Israelis since the conflict broke out.
The Chinese official on Wednesday pushed for a cease-fire in a phone call with a foreign affairs official from the Palestinian Authority, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
That meeting followed a call between Zhai and an Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday, during which he called for humanitarian support for the Palestinian people.
China has reasons to balance its relationships on both sides of the conflict. Beijing’s bilateral trade with Israel totaled some $22.1 billion last year, according to International Monetary Fund figures.
More than half of Israel’s exports to China are electric components including microchips, according to a June paper by Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.
That trade with Israel is crucial as the US urges its partners to implement curbs on Beijing’s access to cutting-edge technology. Intel Corp. abandoned a $5.4 billion deal in August to acquire Israel’s Tower Semiconductor Ltd. after failing to win Chinese regulatory approval in time as rising geopolitical tensions slow down that process.
Ben-Abba said Israel and China have a “good” relationship, adding that they enjoy a “special partnership” on innovation. The diplomat said she didn’t see any direct impact on bilateral trade from the unfolding situation.
“Of course, we have to see what is going to happen in the Middle East as a whole,” she said. “We are in a state of war at the moment.”
(Updates throughout with additional details from the interview.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.