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China’s Foremost Mideast Scholar Explains Beijing’s Response to the Israel-Hamas War

by Eric Olander
Israeli Ambassador to China Irit Ben-Abba speaking with Mideast Special Envoy to the Middle East Zhi Jun on October 17, 2023. Image via the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China was much slower than the other major powers to respond to the October 7 terrorist attack by the Islamic militant group Hamas against civilian populations in southern Israel.

The following week, when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi laid out Beijing’s position on the conflict, many in Israel, the U.S., and European countries were unhappy that he did not specifically condemn Hamas by name and re-stated Beijing’s longstanding position that calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state — aka “the two-state solution.”

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