China’s ingress in the Middle East

CHINA’S increasing peacemaker role in the strife-torn Middle East has positively enshrined the country’s image in the region. On July 23, 2024, the Chinese foreign ministry facilitated a signing of the Beijing Declaration by fourteen Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah. The Declaration reiterated the need for internal Palestinian unity. Last year, China facilitated a rapprochement between Saudi Arab and Iran. Since then, analysts have prophesied that China has swiftly challenged the U.S.’s decades of dominance in the Middle East. The Beijing and Washington divergent strategic outlook has consequential effects on Middle Eastern politics and the unending War in Gaza.

China has continuously opposed the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land and has repetitively called for a two-state solution. In April 2022, President Xi announced the Global Security Initiative (GSI); its execution in letter and spirit would assist in resolving many global security governance issues to make the world safer. In December 2022, President Xi, while addressing the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit, invited the Gulf states to join the GSI “in a joint effort to uphold regional peace and stability.”

In the Middle East context, the GSI proposed a five-point plan for peace and stability, including advocating mutual respect, upholding equity and justice, ensuring non-proliferation, fostering collective security and accelerating development cooperation to establish a new security framework. It also called for advancing the two-state solution and convening a more authoritative international peace conference to achieve a just resolution to the Palestinian issue. This solution aligns with international resolutions and is supported by many Western states, including Norway.

President Xi’s proposal to establish a new security framework in the Middle East undermines the U.S.’s strategic interest in the region. Therefore, the Biden administration is striving to continue the existing security framework, which endures the U.S. dominance in the Middle East through Israel and its Arab friends. It constituted Israel, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the U.S. multilateral security group in the region. The U.S.’s Western allies and regional friends are ignoring Israel’s militaristic regional outlook.

The challenge for the Americans is how to address the declining popularity of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within Israel and their war-criminal image internationally. The International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court have called out Israel for its war crimes in Gaza. However, Netanyahu refused ICJ, ICC, and UNSC resolutions for a ceasefire and continued war in Gaza to maintain the support of radicals in the Israeli polity. Besides, he is struggling to divert attention from his ongoing Palestinian genocide by using two tactics, i.e., the war on terrorism and Iran’s increasing military power in the Middle East. On July 24, while addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress, he referred to Iran “axis of terrors.” He demanded, “America and Israel today can forge a security alliance in the Middle East to counter the growing Iranian threat.” He added, “All countries that are in peace with Israel, and all those countries who will make peace with Israel, should be invited to join this alliance.” He called for further U.S. support by stating, “Our enemies are your enemies. Our fight is your fight. And our victory will be your victory.”

In the hosting of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by Congress at the Capital Hill, Washington, the American legislatures have manifested that they prioritize the United States’ politico-strategic interests in the Middle East instead of humanity and Human Rights norms. For them, supporting Netanyahu is more important than helping the right of self-determination of the Palestinians and ending the devastating war in Gaza. However, a few sober voices in the U.S. are criticizing the 40000 killings of innocent residents of Gaza during the past ten months. Notably, the U.S. support to Israel in the Gaza War and against Iran are tarnishing its image and creating space for China’s politico-economic ingress in the Middle East.

The U.S. support for Israel encourages Netanyahu to continue the war in Gaza instead of a ceasefire and resolve the conflict through dialogue. The alarming factor is that his aggressive approach is increasing the conflict. The probability of war escalation multiplied after a rocket strike on the town of Druze in Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied northern Golan Heights, which killed 11 people and injured 37.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened, “Hezbollah will pay a heavy price which it has not paid up to now.” Ironically, instead of pacifying the situation, the U.S. National Security Council spokesperson issued a supportive statement to the Israeli chief executive, “Our support for Israel’s security is iron-clad and unwavering against all Iranian-backed terrorist groups, including Lebanese Hezbollah.” Hezbollah denied the Israeli acquisition of its involvement in the attack on the Druze.

The targeted assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 30, 2024, and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukur in Beirut on July 29, 2024,have further deteriorated the situation in the region. Iranian leadership pledged to respond in kind. Thus, the killing of Haniyeh in Tehran is an attempt to embroil Iran in a war, which has consistently refused to accept the American and Israeli hegemony in the region. China and Iran had signed a $400 billion strategic partnership agreement. Indeed, Iran’s entanglement in a war is not in the interest of China, which is increasing its influence in the region by facilitating unity amongst Palestinian factions and, earlier, by brokering Iran-Saudi reconciliation and increasing economic cooperation with the regional actors.

To conclude, innocent Palestinians have been facing merciless slaughter by Israeli Defence Forces since October 2023. Instead of stopping it, the U.S. is supporting Israel and also endorsing the latter aggression against Iran. China is facilitating dialogue among the conflicting parties in the region. Thus, the Chinese increasing peacemaker role in the Middle East increases its ingress in the region and also germinates hope that regional conflicts and tensions would be resolved through dialogue.