Why is it said that this is a meeting that focuses on the overall situation? China will welcome an "old friend" to visit China, with depth | visiting China next week | Palestinian President Abbas
During the season of increasing summer sentiment, China's diplomacy has also gained popularity due to the successive visits of multiple foreign dignitaries to China. After Honduras President Castro's trip to Shanghai and Beijing, China will welcome another distinguished guest next week - Palestinian President Abbas, who will start a four-day state visit to China on the 13th.
As an old and good friend of the Chinese people, Abbas is the first Arab head of state received by China this year, fully reflecting the high level of friendly relations between China and Pakistan. Analysis suggests that in the context of the marginalization of the Palestinian issue and the frequent occurrence of the Israeli Palestinian conflict, China has always supported the just cause of restoring the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and won the trust of regional countries. China will continue to play a positive role in promoting peace talks, adhere to international fairness and justice, and ensure the overall peace and stability in the Middle East.
A meeting focused on the overall situation
The traditional friendly relationship between China and Pakistan can be said to have a long history, created by the older generation of leaders themselves, and continuously developed and deepened in the new situation.
Looking back at history, China was one of the earliest countries to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization and the State of Palestine. After the establishment of the PLO in 1964, an office with diplomatic status was established in Beijing after a year. In 1988, China became one of the first countries to recognize the State of Palestine, except for member states of the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Former Palestinian leader Arafat visited China 14 times during his lifetime, each time expressing sincere gratitude to China for its support of the Palestinian national liberation cause.
In the blink of an eye, China and Pakistan have entered their 35th year of diplomatic relations this year.
From the Chinese side's point of view, President Xi sent congratulatory message to the United Nations commemorative meeting on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people for 10 years in a row, repeatedly put forward Chinese initiatives on promoting the settlement of the Palestinian issue, and stressed the firm promotion of a political settlement based on the "two-state solution. It has been noted that in December last year, President Xi met with Abbas during the Sino Arab summit in Saudi Arabia.
From the Palestinian side, the Pakistani government has repeatedly stressed that it "stands on the side of friendly China", firmly supports China in safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and speaks out on issues such as the traceability of COVID-19 to counter attempts by some countries to discredit China.
Ding Long, a professor at the Middle East Research Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, pointed out that Abbas last visited China in 2017, and then the COVID-19 caused obstacles to offline exchanges between the two heads of state. Therefore, Abbas's visit to China after many years is seen as an opportunity for in-depth exchanges between the leaders of China and Pakistan. This is the first background of his visit to China.
"The second background is that there are signs of marginalization in the Palestinian issue." Ding Long pointed out that "the main reason is that the Trump and Biden administrations of the United States blindly favor Israel and have not made practical efforts to promote the Palestinian Israeli peace process. Therefore, it can be seen that at the international level, the four party mechanism aimed at mediating the Palestinian Israeli issue has malfunctioned; at the regional level, multiple Arab countries have signed the so-called 'century agreement' led by the United States, achieving normalization of relations with Israel, and the core interests of the Palestinian people have become irrelevant."
"The third background is that in recent years, the Palestinian Israeli conflict has shown a cyclical outbreak trend, although the intensity is not high, the frequency is very high." Ding Long said, "Although the Palestinian Israeli conflict has been mediated and quelled before the major outbreak, the problem has always threatened peace and security in the Middle East like an ulcer. In addition, the internal division in Palestine, the intensification of the Hamas Fatah conflict, and the emergence of new armed resistance organizations have significantly increased the danger and uncontrollability of the region."
Ding Long pointed out that in the context of the Palestinian issue being increasingly marginalized and lacking strong international mediators, China upholds the spirit of global security initiatives, upholds the Chinese diplomatic concept of promoting reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and always supports the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights, shouting for it. In April of this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang held phone calls with the Foreign Ministers of Palestine and Israel, expressing China's support for the resumption of peace talks between the two sides based on the "two-state plan" and its willingness to play an active role in this regard. "Therefore, inviting Abbas to visit China this time can be seen as China's attempt to lay the groundwork for the Palestinian Israeli peace talks."
Sun Degang, Director and Researcher of the Center for Middle East Studies at Fudan University, believes that after Saudi Arabia and Iran achieve reconciliation in Beijing, China wants to continue to play a role in promoting peace talks in the Middle East region. Because the Palestinian issue is at the core of the Middle East issue, it is related to peace and stability in the Middle East, and international fairness and justice. "If peace cannot be achieved between Palestine and Israel, peace in the Middle East will be unsustainable, and the Middle East region and the resolution of the tide may also be greatly compromised. Therefore, China is starting from the overall situation of peace and development in the Middle East and conducting head of state diplomacy with Pakistan."
Public opinion points out that after Saudi Arabia and Iran resumed diplomatic relations, although there has been an improvement in relations among relevant countries in the Gulf region, the eastern Mediterranean region is not calm - the relationship between Palestine and Israel has been unfavorable since the beginning of the year, and the Al Aqsa Mosque incident has caused a thousand waves. Although the Palestinian Islamic Jihad reached a ceasefire agreement with Israel in May this year, the tension has not completely dissipated. At the same time, the accelerated right-wing trend in Israeli politics has cast a shadow over the regional situation, and the authorities are still advancing settlement plans
"In the current situation of mutual distrust between Palestine and Israel, China wants to drive the trilateral development through bilateral means." Sun Degang said, "On the one hand, China invites Palestinian leaders to visit China. On the other hand, China and Israel are innovating a comprehensive partnership, and the two countries are still promoting free trade agreement negotiations. Through various bilateral diplomacy, China has created conditions for ultimately achieving trilateral dialogue and promoting the peace process between Palestine and Israel."
Some noteworthy issues
The two delegations will hold a meeting and sign several agreements.
Ding Long and Sun Degang stated that several major issues have attracted much attention during Abbas's visit to China.
One is how to restart the Palestinian Israeli peace process. Due to issues such as Jewish settlements, the Israeli Palestinian peace talks have been stalled since 2014. China has called on the international community on multiple occasions to enhance its sense of urgency and promote the resumption of peace talks between Palestine and Israel as soon as possible. It is expected that the Chinese side will still reiterate its position this time.
The second is how to achieve the downgrading of regional conflicts. Since this spring, a series of bloody conflicts have erupted from Jerusalem to Gaza and even the Israeli Lebanese border area. How to manage differences, properly resolve conflicts and other issues or put them on the table.
Thirdly, China may reiterate its commitment to humanitarian assistance to Pakistan. At the beginning of this month, China stated at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East pledging conference that it will donate an additional $1 million to the agency this year to improve the livelihoods of Palestine.
The fourth is how to strengthen economic and trade cooperation and tap into the potential for practical cooperation. Data shows that the bilateral trade volume between China and Pakistan in 2022 was 158 million US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 23.2%, mainly due to China's exports to Palestine. After the two sides signed the memorandum of understanding on the joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" last year, how to follow up the implementation and strengthen cooperation under the framework of the global development initiative is expected.
Another noteworthy issue in the economic field is the negotiation process of the China Palestine Free Trade Area. In 2019, China and Pakistan launched the first round of negotiations on the free trade zone and reached an agreement on the scope of negotiation documents. Analysis suggests that both China and Pakistan believe that signing a free trade agreement will further strengthen bilateral economic and trade relations, bringing more benefits to the businesses and people of both countries. However, due to internal conflicts within Palestine, negotiations still face some obstacles. Whether both sides can achieve a breakthrough in the future remains to be observed.
A thought-provoking signal
Prior to Abbas's upcoming visit to China, a recent poll by Saudi Arabia's Arab News released a thought-provoking signal.
This poll shows that 80% of Palestinian respondents expressed support for China's role in the Israeli Palestinian peace talks, following Beijing's successful push for reconciliation in March. Nearly 60% of the respondents do not trust the United States to mediate the negotiations between Palestine and Israel.
Ding Long pointed out that the poll results are a true portrayal of the external mediation situation on the Palestinian Israeli issue. Since the Biden administration took office in the United States, although it has changed the Trump administration's approach of completely leaning towards Israel and expressed a stance of adhering to the "two-state solution" during its visit to Palestine, many promises have not been fulfilled, and statements such as "wanting to reopen the Consulate General in Jerusalem" have become "empty promises". This has bankrupted the credibility of the United States and made Biden a US president who has done nothing on the Israeli Palestinian issue.
Compared to other countries, the reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Iran facilitated by China has played a positive role in driving the overall security situation in the Middle East. Many geopolitical conflicts have been easily resolved or given opportunities for resolution in the context of Shah reconciliation. "Therefore, regional countries and people have high expectations for China, which is a foundation. China can be said to be the most qualified, expected, and trusted international mediator on the Palestinian Israeli issue."
Sun Degang believes that the Palestinian Israeli issue is the longest lasting hot topic in the Middle East region. Although the United States wants to promote peace between Palestine and Israel, the biggest problem is that it favors Israel and cannot gain full trust from the Palestinian side. The "Century Agreement" ultimately did not achieve the expected effect. However, China does not choose sides on the Palestinian Israeli issue, which is favored by both sides. However, if China wants to facilitate peace talks between Palestine and Israel, the United States may still need to play a certain role. Whether a "China US Pakistan Israel" mechanism will be formed and a phased agreement will be reached under the new situation is an observation direction.
In the process of building a community with a shared future between China and Arab countries, Palestine is not an ordinary Arab country, but has a certain degree of uniqueness. Because its interaction with China can reflect China's commitment to fairness and justice, pursuit of world multipolarity, democratization of national relations, and advocacy for common security.
Ding Long said that the above principles of China have not changed with the changing international situation, which is also why China's diplomacy as a major country with Chinese characteristics has been comprehensively promoted, and so many old friends and new friends have come to China one after another. They value China's breadth of mind, principles, and magnanimity. Looking ahead to the future, although mediating the path of peace between Palestine and Israel is fraught with difficulties, it will be a positive effort conducive to regional peace and will receive widespread support from the international community.
