Since the terrorist attack against Israel by Hamas on October 7, the Chinese government has made clear that it opposes Israel’s ability and right to defend itself against such merciless aggression.
Writing for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Craig Singleton observes that instead of condemning Hamas, China has instead “simply reiterated its support for ‘establishing an independent State of Palestine.’ ” China is also casting doubt about Israel’s right to use overwhelming force to respond to the attack: “on October 14, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi [shown above] bluntly stated that Israel’s actions to target Hamas in Gaza had ‘gone beyond self-defense.’ “
One wonders what the Chinese government thinks would be the correct amount of self-defense. As Greg Gutfield has argued, the calls for Israel to show restraint is equivalent to letting a violent bully throw a free sucker punch rather than use available means to prevent the assailant from attacking in the future.
Singleton notes that this show of solidarity with the Palestinians probably helps China with Iran, from whom China is buying a lot of oil. The Iran Primer reports that 7% of China’s oil came from Iran in 2022.
China’s alignment is consistent with the general division of geopolitical powers across the world into two camps: one camp that favors the rule of law, democracy, and basic rights; another that favors dictatorship and repression at home and aggression against neighbors as means of gaining power.
