Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is seen between Fatah (PLO) Deputy Chairman Mahmoud Al Aloul (left) and Hamas Head of International Relations Musa Abu Marzouk (right) at agreement ceremony in Beijing on July 23. Just a few hours before US senators and congressmen lined up to shake Netanyahu’s hand, China brought together 14 Palestinian groups in Beijing.
On July 23, 2023, the US Congress opened a shameful chapter in the history of humanity and democracy. On the day when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was called as a guest of honor for the 4th time and received a standing ovation at the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives, the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza, where 60 attacks were carried out on that day alone, had reached 40,000 in nine months.
American politics, both in power and opposition, is not only complicit in every innocent Palestinian murder by Israel but has become an instigator.
Just a few hours before US senators and congressmen lined up to shake Netanyahu’s hand and showcase themselves for the Israeli lobby’s campaign donations for the November 5 elections, a meeting was being held on the other side of the world that would annoy both the US and Israel.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi brought together 14 Palestinian groups in Beijing, from Hamas to Fatah, Islamic Jihad to Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), disregarding their terrorist labels by the US and Israel, and even got them to sign a protocol for Palestinian “national reconciliation” against “Zionist aggression.”
China in the Middle East
Whether the eight-point text signed by Palestinian groups under China’s auspices will be implemented is another matter, but it is significant that this is the first time since Hamas violently ousted Fatah from Gaza in 2007 that they have come together at this level.
The Palestinian reconciliation is the latest sign that China is now entering the Middle East not only as an economic power but also as a political and diplomatic force. And it’s the aspect that will most disturb the US and Israel. Because this is not akin to indirect dialogue attempts by Egypt, Qatar, or Türkiye among these Palestinian groups: China is beyond the reach of both the US and Israel. As the world’s second-largest economic and significant military power, China operates outside the influence of global capital groups steering Netanyahu’s aggression in the US and Israel.
The results of the China-Arab Forum, held in Beijing on May 30 at the foreign ministers’ level, also contributed to China’s more active stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in favor of the Palestinians.
On March 10, 2023, under the mediation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang, Saudi Arabia and Iran had decided to re-establish diplomatic relations in Beijing.
Could it be for Syria too…
China took over the Iran-Saudi Arabia rapprochement from the talks facilitated by Iraq.
It is worth taking seriously Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani’s desire to host Türkiye-Syria talks in this context. Russian President Vladimir Putin most wants President Tayyip Erdoğan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to reconcile. But there is now a possibility, albeit small, that Xi Jinping might “facilitate” this meeting.
The US does not want a Türkiye-Syria rapprochement. A Türkiye-Syria peace is against Israel’s interests. In fact, it is also against Iran’s interests. From this perspective, Türkiye’s involvement in the Syrian civil war in 2011 benefited Israel, Iran, and Russia, which thus returned strongly to the Middle East.
Russia is now busy with Ukraine, and China is also involved in that issue.
On July 24, Wang hosted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in the city of Guangzhou. After the meeting, Kuleba said what President Tayyip Erdoğan most wanted to hear: they were ready to negotiate with Russia.
By leveraging its economic power into diplomacy, China is assuming a role akin to the “Diplomatic peace force” that the UN cannot fulfill.
What is Ankara doing?
It was interesting that President Erdoğan focused on his diplomatic successes in his speech to the AK Party parliamentary group on July 24. There was no success in the economy yet beyond promises, but a video was shown about how many heads of state and government he met with at how many international meetings as his diplomatic successes.
It was seen that Ankara’s policy of “You support Israel, I will support Hamas,” which it pursued in the early days of the relentless massacre in Gaza following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, did not yield results. The Hamas administration also conducts its diplomacy through Egypt and Qatar, which have some kind of contact with Israel.
The best way to read the transformation of the AK Party government’s foreign policy, alongside the phased initiatives of Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, is through the National Security Council (NSC) statements.
In the 4th article of the NSC statement dated July 25, the “ancient friendship” between the peoples of Türkiye and Syria was remembered, while in the 5th article, Israel was identified as a threat to Middle East security.
Ankara’s Israel, Iran, and security (PKK)-focused Syria-Iraq policy is also externally dependent on the US elections on November 5.
China filling the void
China is advancing in diplomacy and increasing its number of friends without creating new enemies, partly because it is one of the countries that least cares about the November 5 elections in the world.
Despite street reactions, the right-Zionist aggression represented by Netanyahu, which American politics applauded standing up with both power and opposition, seems to have reached a shameful peak with his July 23 Congress speech. Every graph that reaches a peak starts to decline eventually.
Whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins, the White House’s support for right-Zionist aggression in Israel is reaching its limits. Countries like Germany and France, which influence the European Union’s Israel policy, will not be able to pat Netanyahu on the back for much longer due to voter reactions.
While Russia is preoccupied with its own problems, China is filling this void with its economic power and the leverage ability it gained from not being historically involved in regional conflicts – partly due to its geography.
It is necessary to view Türkiye-China relations from a national interests perspective rather than through “axis shift” clichés.
