The Jewish nation is no longer “homeless,” and Palestinians also deserve statehood, China’s top diplomat has said
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attend a press conference following the EU-China High-Level Strategic Dialogue, in Beijing, China, October 13, 2023 © Andres Martinez Casares / Pool via AP
Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that China will continue to stand on the side of international law, peace and justice, condemning all acts of violence against civilians in Israel’s war with Hamas. The unprecedented militant raid claimed over 1,400 lives in Israel and prompted it to declare war, with hundreds of Palestinians now dying every day in retaliatory strikes on Gaza.
“China condemns all acts that harm civilians and opposes any violation of international law,” China’s top diplomat said, as he met with the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, in Beijing on Friday. Wang Yi said that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “rapidly deteriorating” and already “critical.”
However, China’s top diplomat insisted that the “root cause of this question lies in the long delay in realizing the dream of an independent State of Palestine and the failure to redress the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people.”
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“Israel has the right to statehood, so does Palestine,” Wang Yi stated. “The Israelis have obtained the safeguards for survival, but who will care about the survival of the Palestinians? The Jewish nation is no longer homeless in the world, but when will the Palestinian nation return to its home?”
There is no shortage of injustices in the world, but the injustice to Palestine has dragged on for over half a century. The sufferings that plagued generations must not continue.
Beijing said that the top priority is to ”stop the fighting as soon as possible” to “prevent it from spreading endlessly,” and “make every effort to ensure the safety of civilians, open up a humanitarian rescue and assistance passage as quickly as possible.”
The international community, including the United Nations, should “play its due role in resolving” the crisis, while the sides of the conflict should “stay calm and exercise restraint, take an objective and just position, and work for de-escalation.”
The only answer to the decades-old conflict is the “two-state solution and an independent State of Palestine,” Wang Yi insisted, expressing hope that this way “Palestine and Israel could coexist in peace and how the Arabs and Jews could live in harmony.”
