China sends its first "peace envoy" to Tel Aviv and the West Bank to mediate the ceasefire in Gaza

Cal's Lucas Shanghai Correspondent

Shanghai Correspondent

Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-2:13 p.m.

Wang Kejian, a veteran diplomat who was ambassador to Lebanon, has been chosen by Beijing to become the first Chinese "peace envoy" to set foot in Israel and Palestine after five months of war.

A trip that the Asian giant has presented as an attempt to mediate a ceasefire and protect the Palestinians who are being massacred in Gaza by Israeli attacks.

The Chinese diplomat, a firm defender of the solution to the conflict through the creation of "two States", was this week in Ramallah, in the West Bank, where he met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, Riyad al-Maliki.

"China will continue to work with the international community to stop the fighting as soon as possible," Wang said, according to a note from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The representative of the Asian superpower also stopped by Tel Aviv to talk with two senior Israeli officials: Hagai Shagrir, head of the Asia-Pacific Office of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Rachel Feinmesser, head of the Center for Policy Research of the same ministry.

"

Wang reiterated China's call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza

and urged the protection of civilians and humanitarian access," highlighted the Chinese reading of the meeting.

There has been no statement from Israel regarding the passage through Tel Aviv of the Beijing envoy.

A few weeks ago, the Israeli Government criticized China for comments made by another of its representatives, Ma Xinmin, during a hearing of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the occupation of the Palestinian territories.

"The Palestinian people are fighting against Israeli oppression. Their fight to complete the establishment of an independent state in the occupied territories is, essentially, a just action to restore their legitimate rights. The right to self-determination serves as a precise legal basis for their struggle "Ma said.

There was a response from Lior Haiat, spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

"The statement could be interpreted as China's support for Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7," he said.

"China should ask itself why the terrorist organization Hamas was quick to praise the words of the Chinese legal advisor to the ICJ," Haiat said, referring to the fact that Hamas had thanked the Chinese representative's statements on its Telegram channel.

Israeli diplomats often recall that, after the Hamas attack on October 7, the

Chinese government did not directly condemn the fundamentalist group

or support Israel's right to defend itself.

The Israeli embassy in Beijing even expressed its "deep disappointment" at the Asian giant's position.

At the end of last October, Beijing sent another "peace envoy" to the region, in this case without setting foot in Israel or the Palestinian territories, and without making concrete progress in a possible mediation.

In recent months, China has repeatedly called for an end to attacks on Gaza and has harshly criticized the United States for vetoing U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Chinese President Xi Jinping maintains good commercial relations with Israel - China is its third trading partner - but he has always publicly supported the Palestinian cause, defending at the UN that the solution to the conflict involves the creation of two States, with East Jerusalem as capital of a sovereign Palestinian state.

China, which has expanded its influence in the Middle East in the last decade, was one of the first countries outside the Arab League to recognize (in 1988) the State of Palestine.

In 2013, in an attempt at mediation, Xi separately invited Palestinian Authority leader Abu Mazen and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Beijing.

Last week, during the annual legislative meeting in Beijing, the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wan Yi, surprised during a press conference by calling for "full membership" of Palestine in the UN.

"It is a shame for civilization that this humanitarian catastrophe cannot be stopped in the 21st century. No excuse can justify the killing of civilians. The international community must act to achieve an immediate ceasefire and guarantee humanitarian aid," Wang stressed. insisting on the urgency of holding an international peace conference.