Palestinian Support for ‘One China' Policy Indicates Trouble in Middle East: Expert

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) shakes hands after presenting a medallion to Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 18, 2017. Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images

During the first Arab-China summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Dec. 9, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a speech that Palestine will continue to support the “One China” policy to defend Beijing from attacks at international forums.

“The State of Palestine … will continue to stand firmly by China’s side in support of its ‘One China’ policy, and in order to fend off the attacks against China in all international forums,” Abbas said in his speech in the presence of Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, believes that Abbas’s speech is symptomatic of trouble and more instability in the Middle East.

“This form of making nice between Mahmoud Abbas and the Chinese is all about if they can get the Chinese support for the Palestinian Authority, then that means more support for terrorism. It means more support for instability in that part of the world,” Menken said in an interview on the “China in Focus” program on NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet, which aired on Dec. 21.

A day before the summit, Abbas and Xi had a one-to-one meeting in Riyadh, and Beijing said in an official statement that it supports the cause of the Palestinian people.

China and Palestine are celebrating 35 years of their ties, and the bilateral meeting between Xi and Abbas witnessed the signing of a tourism cooperation document, advanced negotiations for a China-Palestine free trade agreement, and also the second session of the Chinese-Palestinian Joint Committee for Economic, Trade, and Technical Cooperation.

Menken said the Chinese regime seeks to dominate the geopolitically sensitive region through Palestine.

“The Chinese are seeking to dominate and seeking to control anybody else who’s seeking to destabilize stable areas and stable governments so that Chinese influence can come in and take over. That’s something that the Chinese are going to support,” said Menken.

He believes Abbas will support China because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) “favors authoritarianism and dictatorial control over democracy.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) listens as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) speaks during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 18, 2017.
Abbas is on an official visit to China from July 17-20. Mark Schiefelbein/AFP via Getty Images

“So the fact that they are partnering with each other should not surprise us, but it should trouble us because it’s a further sign of China’s seeking to destabilize other parts of the world, and those in the Arab world supporting Chinese authoritarianism over democracy,” said Menken.

He said the world needs to keep a close watch if the CCP provides military support to Palestine “clandestinely or openly” because Palestine’s traditional supplier, Iran, is currently facing a lot of trouble and encountering increasing interception of its shipment.

“So it may be that the Chinese are going to start being a new supplier of weapons and arms. You know, who knows? And, of course, often that comes with bundles of cash.”

Targeting the UK, US

In his speech, Abbas targeted the United Kingdom and the United States and said they should compensate the Palestinian people.

“We stress that Britain and the U.S. must apologize and pay reparations to the Palestinian people for the Balfour Declaration, in which they collaborated, as well as for the [British] mandate,” said Abbas in his talk that was aired on Alghad TV (Egypt, UAE).

Menken said that if Abbas had cared about Muslims, he would have stood by the Uyghurs who the CCP is persecuting; instead, he targeted the United Kingdom and the United States, neither of whom are backing Israel.

“There are recent accusations that organs are being harvested from living, unwilling donors to be taken from Uyghur Muslims and given to ethnic Chinese in the ruling party. This is obviously a human rights disgrace! Someone who cares about human rights is going to care about the Chinese!” said Menken.

He said, “thankfully,” many in the Arab world have abandoned the narrative of the Palestinian Authority that blames Israel for all the world’s problems.

He referred to the Abraham Accords and said, “People are realizing that peace, especially peace with flourishing democracies, is really what’s right for the world.”

Going forward, Menken said he would like to see the Arab world recognizing Taiwan because it’s an independent island nation with liberty and democracy.

“It’s producing much more per capita. Even though there are so many Chinese products coming out, the Taiwanese are producing much more per person, and much more income per person, and better lives. And by the way, they’re not spending any of their efforts on persecuting their own people—on persecuting minorities, like the Tibetans and the Uyghur Muslims and the inner Mongolians,” said Menken.