CHINA TELLS ISRAEL TO REVERSE WEST BANK SETTLEMENT EXPANSION
China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, told Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Israel should stop and reverse its "forced establishment" of settlements in the West Bank, China's foreign ministry said in a statement. The two men met in Azerbaijan on the sidelines of the Seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, held in Baku. According to the ministry, Wang said China has consistently viewed the Palestinian question as "the greatest historical injustice of this century". Wang was attending the summit as the special representative of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China's state news agency Xinhua reported. The ministry's account represents China's own characterisation of the exchange; Israel's side of the conversation was not detailed in the statement.
Wang told Herzog that the "two-state solution" is the right path to a resolution of the conflict, the ministry said. He described the immediate priority as fully opening access to the Gaza Strip so that a humanitarian "catastrophe" is not allowed to spread, according to the statement. One account of the meeting quoted Wang as saying that promoting peace and reconciliation in the region is the "cornerstone" of China's Middle East policy. Wang added that China is willing to work with the international community to push all parties back to dialogue and seek a political settlement, the ministry said.
The meeting followed a visit by Xi to Cairo in September, his first in a decade, during which he called on Middle East countries to oppose external influence and consider reshaping the region's security order, according to Egyptian presidential statements. Talks between Xi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi covered the US-Israel war on Iran, with both leaders urging diplomatic solutions towards a comprehensive agreement to end the conflict, a spokesperson for Sisi said. In March, China had criticised US and Israeli attacks on Iran and demanded an immediate halt to the joint action, according to Chinese statements at the time.