Mon, January 16, 2023
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang has called on Israel to refrain from provocations that could worsen the situation with Palestine, saying Beijing supports a fair and permanent solution to the issue.
"China is deeply worried" about the recent escalation of tensions between Israel and Palestine, Qin said in the Egyptian capital Cairo - his last stop on a five-nation African tour and first overseas trip since taking office in December.
"Israel should stop all incitement and provocation and avoid any unilateral actions that might lead to aggravation of the situation," the Chinese diplomat said at a joint press briefing on Sunday with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry.
Qin also called for "maintaining the status quo" at Jerusalem's most important holy site - after an ultranationalist Israeli cabinet minister visited the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary - or the Al-Aqsa Mosque - Islam's third holiest shrine.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is Islam's third holiest shrine. Photo: dpa alt=The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem is Islam's third holiest shrine. Photo: dpa>
The visit by Itamir Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister, was seen by Palestinians as a provocation and drew widespread condemnation from across the Muslim world.
Qin called on all concerned to maintain calm and restraint to prevent further escalation of tensions.
He said the Palestinian issue concerned regional peace and stability as well as international fairness and justice, and that China attached great importance to it, according to state news agency Xinhua.
Qin also noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping had put forward proposals on resolving the Palestinian issue on many occasions, urging the international community to firmly support the "two-state solution" and adhere to principle of "land for peace" to promote peace talks, expand humanitarian and development assistance to Palestine, and promote an early, just and lasting solution to the issue.
Qin said China had responded to Arab and Palestinian demands by supporting the UN Security Council in holding an emergency public meeting last week on the Palestine issue, and had pushed the council to play its due role in the matter.
He said the cause of the worsening situation between Israel and Palestine was that peace talks had stagnated and the "two-state solution" had not been implemented - referring to China's long-held ideal of an Israeli state and a Palestinian state in harmonious coexistence.
"The international community should increase its sense of urgency, put the Palestine issue at the top of the international agenda, and promote the resumption of peace talks between Israel and Palestine," Qin said.
Shoukry said the two ministers had "discussed the Palestinian cause, as well as the political and economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war regionally and internationally".
"That's in addition to the updates on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam issue," he added, referring to a US$4.6 billion hydropower project being built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, on which Egypt is heavily dependent for its water supply. China supports an Africa-led mediation process to resolve the dispute between Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.
Qin also met separately on Sunday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and secretary general Ahmed Aboul-Gheit of the Arab League, which is headquartered in Cairo.
The meeting with Aboul-Gheit came weeks after the first China-Arab States Summit, held in the Saudi capital Riyadh last month during Xi's tour of the region.
Calling the summit a success, Qin said China "firmly supports Arab countries in solving regional security issues via solidarity and coordination".
China supported a greater role for the Arab League in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, he added.
Arab countries are a major source of China's oil and Beijing has lately increased its investments in the region, especially in the petroleum industry and in the reconstruction of countries destroyed by war, such as Iraq and Syria.
At his meeting with Qin, Egyptian President Sisi said he looked forward to the return of tourists from China following its recent border reopening, and invited Chinese companies to invest in the north African nation.
Chinese companies are already building massive projects in Egypt under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative - such as a new administrative capital in Cairo and the Suez Canal special economic zone.
Qin said China would continue to develop its investments in Egypt's infrastructure, promote and speed up cooperation projects, as well as "advance belt and road cooperation and promote more fruitful implementation of the China-Arab States Summit's outcomes in Egypt".
Qin criss-crossed Africa for his first foreign trip since being named to replace the veteran Wang Yi as China's foreign minister on December 30.
His first stop was Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa, where he unveiled the Chinese-funded African disease control centre headquarters.
He next travelled to Gabon and Angola in central Africa and then further west to Benin, before rounding off his trip in Egypt.
Paul Nantulya, a China-Africa expert with the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies at the National Defence University in Washington, said Qin was hitting two birds with one stone in Cairo.
He said Egypt was a major power in Africa and enjoyed a "strategic cooperative partnership" with China, one of only seven African states to be accorded that highest level of engagement in bilateral ties.
Egypt is also an African Union heavyweight, as one of the "big five" that contribute most to its budget. This was a major criterion for how China prioritised and ranked its partners in Africa, Nantulya explained.
The meeting with the Arab League secretary general was "part of China's push to expand its ties in North Africa and the larger Arab world", he said.
Qin's trip to Egypt came close on the heels of Xi's visit to Saudi Arabia in December and the China-Arab States Summit, held up as the Middle East's version of the long-standing Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
"It is interesting to see that China's latest push in the Arab world is occurring at the same time as the US seems to be pivoting, again, to Asia," Nantulya said.
This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2023 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2023. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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