Wang Yi, Chinaese Foreign Minister. Photo by Kremlin.ru, via Wikipedia.
Since the terrorist attack against Israel by Hamas on Oct 7th, the Chinese government has made clear that it is against Israel’s ability and right to defend itself against such merciless aggression.
Craig Singleton, writing for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writes that China has failed to condemn Hamas. “Instead, Beijing simply reiterated its support for ‘establishing an independent State of Palestine’…” Further, China is casting doubt about Israel’s right to use overwhelming force to respond to the attack:
…on October 14, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi bluntly stated that Israel’s actions to target Hamas in Gaza had “gone beyond self-defense.”
Craig SIngleton, October 17, 2023 , Beijing Refuses to Condemn Hamas, Steps Up Criticism of Israel
One wonders what the Chinese government thinks would be the correct amount of self-defense. As Greg Gutfeld has argued, the calls for Israel to show restraint is equivalent to letting a violent bully throw a “free sucker punch” rather than use available means to prevent the assailant from being to continue to attack in future.
Singleton notes that this show of solidarity with the Palestinians probably helps China with Iran, from whom China is buying a lot of oil. The Iran Primer reports that 7% of China’s oil came from Iran in 2022.
Moreover, it looks like China’s alignment follows the the general division of geopolitical powers across the world into two camps: one that favor the rule of law, democracy, and basic rights, versus the other that prefers dictatorship and uses repression at home and aggression against neighbors as means of gaining power.
