Two Scholars Try to Clear Up Some of the Confusion Over China’s Response to the Israel-Hamas War

File image of Zhai Jun, China's special envoy to the Middle East, at the Cairo Peace Summit on October 21, 2023. Image via Xinhua.

In the days after Palestinian terrorists brutally attacked civilians in southern Israel last October, there were widespread expectations that China was going to play a prominent role in mediating a settlement among the warring parties.

Beijing dispatched its Special Envoy for the region, Zhai Jun, to tour regional capitals and then in November, when China assumed the presidency of the UN Security Council, Ambassador Zhang Jun famously confronted Israeli officials while firmly aligning Beijing’s stance on the war with the whole of the Arab world and the Global South more broadly.

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by Eric Olander

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