China invites Arab leaders at the forum to boost relationships.
On Wednesday, 29th of May 2024, China plans to welcome a group of Arab leaders and diplomats as it hosts a meeting that Beijing hopes would strengthen relationships with the region and provide a “single voice” on the ongoing dispute between Israel and Hamas. China has pushed to maintain relationships with Arab governments in the past few years, and last year settled on an agreement among Tehran. It’s for a long-time enemy, Saudi Arabia. It historically has also been supportive of the Palestine people’s struggle and pushes for a solution based on two states to the dispute between Israel and Palestine.
Whereas in April, China welcomed rival Palestinian groupings Hamas as well as Fatah for “thoroughly and open talks on boosting intra-Palestinian peace.” Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and a number of other regional officials and diplomats are among those attending the meeting. Meanwhile, China has announced that Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, will make a keynote address at the opening ceremony of the conference on Thursday, 20th of May 2024, with the goal of establishing a “shared understanding” between China and Arab governments.
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The battle between Israel and Hamas will be at the forefront of the agenda, with President of China Xi Jinping calling for a “world peace conference” to settle it. On the other side, China views a beneficial opportunity to strengthen its name and status in the Arab world in casting its attempts to end the violence against US inactivity, according to Ahmed Aboudouh, an associate fellow with the Chatham House Middle East and North Africa Programme. “This, in turn, promotes China’s goal of reducing the US’s reputation and power in the area,” he explained. “The longer the battle continues, the simpler it will be for China to achieve this goal,” he continued.
Furthermore, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Yemen and Sudanese colleagues in China on Tuesday 27th of May, expressing his wish to “strengthen solidarity and coordination” with the Arab world. Moreover, he also discussed China’s worries over threatening assaults on Red Sea ships by Iran-backed Huthi troops working in support of Hamas with his Yemeni substitute, Shayea Mohsen al-Zindani. “China suggests for a conclusion to the targeting of civilian ships along with to ensure the security of Red Sea waterways,” he told the nation’s news agency, Xinhua.
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