Commentary
As a result of the Hamas terror attack on innocent Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, the world’s attention has been focused once again on the everlasting Israeli–Palestinian conflict. With the Israeli Defense Force systematically rooting out Hamas from the Gaza Strip since the ground war
began 20 days later, the question of what to do with the Palestinian residents looms large among diplomats, pundits, and others around the world.
Calls for the United States and the West to permit the immigration of some 2 million Palestinians have been made. What about another potential destination that no one seems to be mentioning?
Beijing’s reaction to the current conflict is duplicitous and ingenuous, outwardly projecting impartiality and an even-handed approach to resolving the crisis while continuing to support Hamas’s principal backer—the Islamic Republic of Iran—through
major trade deals. What aids Iran ultimately supports all the terrorist groups supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah.
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping and his diplomatic corps have been calling for mediation and a ceasefire for weeks, including a
China Daily editorial on Oct. 16, which would allow Hamas to regroup and rearm without paying a steep penalty for its war crimes.
The underlying truth is that Xi seeks to pin responsibility for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict on the United States in order to endear China to Arab nations and ultimately displace the U.S. presence in the Middle East. State-run Chinese media don’t even mention Hamas in their editorials demanding a ceasefire, claiming that the conflict is between Palestine (sic) and Israel.
Xi constantly regales us with soothing words such as “win-win cooperation,” “achieving whole-process people’s democracy,” “working together toward common development,” “advancing modernization featuring harmony between humans and nature,” and “building a community with a shared future for mankind.” Underlying all of these communist slogans is the bedrock of “socialism with Chinese characteristics,” as if that bit of information warfare is supposed to make students of history relax about the past transgressions of the CCP.
In the communists’ continuing calls for a ceasefire, no mention is made by Xi or state-run media about Palestinian refugees. Perhaps Xi should step up and do something truly altruistic about the Palestinians—to effectively put his money where his mouth is for a change, instead of attempting to make money or geopolitical gain off other people’s tragedies (the COVID-19 pandemic comes immediately to mind).
If China wants to “lead the world,” then he can start by announcing a policy of “immigration with Chinese characteristics,” with emphasis on facilitating—and paying for—the immigration of a million or so Palestinians to communist China. Blending Palestinian refugees with fellow Muslim Uyghurs in East Turkmenistan makes logical sense, doesn’t it? That will surely help build a community with “a shared future for mankind,” won’t it? Now, that would be some real Chinese leadership, not platitudes.
Xi can dispense with the smokescreen of pushing for an “immediate ceasefire” when everyone knows how the CCP would respond if a persecuted minority group in China was somehow able to perpetrate a similar terror attack on Chinese civilians. People should recognize the CCP’s position on an Israeli–Palestinian ceasefire for what it really is: geopolitical grandstanding.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
