Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Israel to halt and reverse settlement expansion in the West Bank during a meeting with President Isaac Herzog in Azerbaijan. Beijing’s account also called for full access to Gaza and a return to dialogue. The bilateral appeal set out China’s position without announcing an Israeli undertaking on settlements.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Israeli President Isaac Herzog to stop and reverse the forced establishment of settlements in the West Bank, according to China’s foreign ministry. The two met in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, on Thursday. The ministry published its account on Friday. The demand concerned Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory; no reciprocal Israeli commitment on that issue was announced.[1], [2]
Wang identified fully opening access to Gaza as the immediate priority and called for the humanitarian catastrophe to be contained. He reaffirmed Beijing’s backing for a two-state solution to the Palestinian question. China, Wang Yi said, was ready to work with the international community to bring the parties back to dialogue and pursue a political settlement. These were positions communicated by Beijing in its account of the meeting.[1]
The encounter took place during the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, a forum for cooperation and security among Asian states. Wang attended as President Xi Jinping’s special representative. Beijing maintains a long-term strategic partnership with Iran while also sustaining substantial commercial ties with Israel and the United States. China signed its twenty-five-year partnership agreement with Iran in 2021 and has developed relations with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates over the past decade.[1]
