Previously for inFOCUS Quarterly, I highlighted the direct involvement of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with Hamas, including military training, supply of weapons, and technical tunneling assistance. The PRC’s political involvement with Palestinian factions, with the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League is deep and longstanding. In addition, China’s votes in the UN General Assembly and in the UN Security Council have clearly been anti-Israel.
The four Abraham Accord countries (UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan) normalized relations with Israel during the Trump administration. All four were represented at the OIC summits and voted in favor of the OIC resolutions.
Iran, Qatar, and Turkey are ardent supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic revolution. Their goal for Israel’s destruction is evident in their many denunciations of Israel and their support of terror proxies including Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis, Iraqi groups, IRGC-QF, ISIS, and Boko Haram.
Key Events Before October 7th
1988: China recognizes the State of Palestine.
July 2017: Palestinian Authority strongman Mahmoud Abbas awards the highest Palestinian medal to Xi Jinping, President of the PRC, for China’s support for Palestine.
December 2020: Hamas and other terrorist groups practice the first of four “Strong Pillar” invasion exercises.
December 2021: Hamas and other terrorist groups practice the second “Strong Pillar” invasion exercise.
October 2022: Algeria Declaration of National Reconciliation
The UN Secretary General announced “the signing on 13 October of the Declaration of Algiers by 14 Palestinian factions as a positive step towards intra-Palestinian reconciliation.”
December 2022: China and Palestine sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) “on Matters of Common Interest under the Joint Construction of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative” (BRI).
December 2022: First China-Arab [League] States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). President Xi attends the two summits and visits Saudi Arabia to meet with the Saudi leadership and sign a $30 billion trade deal.
December 2022: Hamas and other terrorist groups practice the third “Strong Pillar” invasion exercise.
March 2023: Trilateral Statement by the PRC, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the Islamic Republic of Iran; highlights include:
Affirmation that Iran and Saudi Arabia would re-establish diplomatic relations and respect each other’s internal affairs.
“In response to the noble initiative of His Excellency President Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, of China’s support for developing good neighborly relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic Republic of Iran…”
OIC General Secretariat welcomed Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Agreement to resume diplomatic relations, praising the leadership of the PRC.
June 2023: President Xi holds talks at the Great Hall of the People with Palestinian President Abbas who was on a state visit to China and announces the “Joint Statement of the People’s Republic of China and the State of Palestine on Establishing a Strategic Partnership.”
July 2023: 18th Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) notes:
Appreciates the “Algeria Declaration” … to end division and achieve reconciliation as a positive step toward national unity… and appreciates the unremitting efforts made by the President of the Republic of Algeria, Mr. Abdel Majid Tebboune for the success of this historic endeavor.
Calls on the Islamic Group of the OIC to intensify its efforts at the level of international organizations and take the necessary measures to force Israel, the colonial occupying power, to stop all its violations and illegal measures in the occupied Palestinian territory, including Al-Quds Al-Sharif.
August 2023: High-Level Delegation from OIC Member States and OIC General Secretariat visits China.
According to the OIC website, “[D]uring the delegation’s visit, they met with the Deputy Minister of the Unified Action Front Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The meeting discussed the strategic partnership between the OIC, its Member States, and the People’s Republic of China.”
September 2023: Hamas and other terrorist groups practice the fourth “Strong Pillar” invasion exercise.
After October 7, 2023
November 2023: The OIC and the Arab League meet in Riyadh to set a plan of action against Israel. This is the first time the Arab League and the OIC have a combined meeting.
Dozens of leaders attended including the presidents of Iran, Turkey, and Syria (allowed back into the Arab League in 2023), as well as the Emir of Qatar. Highlights of their resolution (the English translations of the OIC resolution and the Arab League resolution are similar):
“Confirming all the resolutions of the Organization [OIC] and the [Arab] League regarding the Palestinian Cause and all the occupied Arab territories…” (Reaffirming the declarations of jihad against Israel approved at the OIC Third and Fifth Summits.)
“Demand that all countries stop exporting weapons and ammunitions.”
Request the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity (committed by Israel).
“Establish two specialized legal monitoring units to document the Israeli crimes committed in the Gaza Strip …” Pursue Israeli officials “for their crimes against the Palestinian people for the International Court of Justice…”
Request the “Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate into Israel’s use of chemical weapons…”
“Call on the Palestinian factions and forces to unite under its umbrella and to assume their responsibilities within a national partnership led by the Palestine Liberation Organization…” (Key statement related to the Beijing Declaration]
Convene “an international peace conference, as soon as possible” including the “land for peace” principle, within a “specific time limit and with international guarantees, leading to an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967” … and the implementation of the two-state solution.”
Although the Islamic countries agree with the final wording of the joint resolution, some Muslim countries call for a total cut in diplomatic ties; Algeria and Iran led this group. Other countries including Bahrain and the UAE, members of the Abraham Accords, reject this path. Tehran also attempts to designate the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as a terrorist organization similar to the terrorist designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and the US. This is rejected.
November 2023: Ministerial Committee Mandated by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit meets with Chinese Foreign Minister (Beijing, PRC)
November 2023: Ministerial Committee Mandated by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit holds meeting with Vice-President of China (Beijing, China)
“…members of the Ministerial Committee commended the positions taken by China with regard to the crisis in Gaza, which are aligned with the Arab and Islamic positions.”
February 2024: Extraordinary Session of Islamic Conference of Information Ministers of the Member States of the OIC (Istanbul, Republic of Türkiye)
“Provide support for the OIC Media Monitoring Unit to organize a media workshop to accomplish its mission as stipulated by the joint Arab and Islamic Summit held in Riyadh on 11 November 2023.”
March 2024: The Extraordinary Session of The Council of Foreign Ministers of The Member States of The OIC to consider the continuing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian People (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia). The meeting is held at the request of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, State of Palestine, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and Islamic Republic of Iran.
Key points discussed in this meeting are:
Asserts “all the resolutions adopted by the OIC regarding the issue of Palestine and the Holy City of Al-Quds…” (reaffirms the declarations of Jihad during the OIC’s Third and Fifth Summit)
Calls for Israel’s membership in international organizations, particularly in the UN, to be suspended.
“Appreciates the efforts of the Islamic Group within the UN Security Council, specifically the distinguished efforts of the United Arab Emirates and the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, the current member in the Security Council, to stop the Israeli barbaric aggression against the Palestinian people…”
March 2024: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh meets PRC Ambassador to Qatar, Cao Xiaolin and Foreign Ministry envoy Wang Kejian in Qatar. Amb. Cao notes “the close and historic relationship between the Palestinian and Chinese peoples and China’s firm positions towards the Palestinian issue and its standing by the just demands of the Palestinian people for freedom, independence, and statehood.”
April 2024: The PRC Foreign Ministry announces that Hamas and Fatah representatives held “in-depth and candid dialogue” in Beijing to promote reconciliation. They agree to continue the dialogue again in Beijing in June.
May 2024: 15th OIC Islamic Summit (Banjul, The Gambia) is attended by “their Majesties, Excellencies, and Highnesses, heads of states, and governments of the OIC member States, and high-level dignitaries from non-member states.” The following are noted highlights:
The Secretary-General emphasized that the Palestinian cause remains the OIC’s central issue.
The 15th Islamic Summit Conference was addressed by several dignitaries including the Special Envoy of the President of China.
The Banjul Declaration: “Urge our Palestinian brothers and sisters to unite in their struggle to achieve their objectives, under the banner of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.”
May 2024: The Arab League summit in Manama, Bahrain produces the “Bahrain Declaration,” similar to the OIC and Arab League original joint statement on 11 November 2023. But also:
Calls “for the deployment of United Nations international protection and peacekeeping forces in the occupied Palestinian territory until the two-state solution is implemented.”
“We call on all Palestinian factions to join together under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and to agree on a comprehensive national project …”
May 2024: Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin meet in Beijing and vow to deepen their strategic partnership. They issue an 8,000-word joint statement outlining their shared view on issues from Taiwan, to Ukraine, to the war in Gaza and other topics: they “discussed the need to achieve an immediate settlement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to resolve the Palestinian issue based on the two-state solution and in keeping with the UN resolution.”
May 2024: President Xi attends the opening ceremony of the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (Beijing, PRC). According to the PRC MFA website, “China firmly supports the establishment of an independent State of Palestine that enjoys full sovereignty based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital. It supports Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations, and supports a more broad-based, authoritative and effective international peace conference…” In attendance are the King of Bahrain, Presidents of Egypt, Tunisia, and the UAE. The Secretary-General of the Arab Leage delivers remarks.
June / July 2024: The PRC Ministry of National Defense hosts a series of seminars for senior military officers from China and Arab States at the PLA National Defense University (Beijing, PRC). The officers attend a two-week “Future-oriented China-Arab Security Cooperation” course focused on the CCP’s Global Security Initiative.
June 2024: Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and his senior military officers meet with their PLA counterparts. Al Saud meets with Defense Minister Dong Jun and Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission (Beijing, PRC)
June 2024: The 22-nation Arab League drops its designation of Hezbollah as a terror organization. This could reflect a sense of confidence from Chinese and Russian future support of the upcoming Beijing Declaration.
July 2024: President Xi meets again with Russian President Putin before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting (Astana, Kazakhstan).
July 2024: “Beijing Declaration” is signed (Beijing, PRC). The Palestinian factions decide to continue the implementation of their previous agreements to end their division with the help of Egypt, Algeria, China, and Russia. Previous Palestinian agreements included references to the EU and the US.
According to an several unconfirmed sources, the agreement notes:
“Based on the National Accord Agreement signed in Cairo on 5/4/2011 and the Algiers Declaration signed on 10/12/2022, we will continue to follow up on the implementation of the agreements to end the division with the help of our sisters Egypt and Algeria and our friends in the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.”
They will “work toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
They have the right to “resist and end occupation.”
2026: Second China-Arab League States Summit will be held in China.
Conclusion
Although many Israeli scholars, businesses, and politicians seek friendly diplomatic relations and extensive trade with China, it is time for Israel to pause its relationship with the PRC. The Palestinian narrative of victimhood aligns with the PRC narratives of the “100 years of humiliation,” which reinforces the trade and economic incentives of allying with OIC states. Consequently, the PRC will continue to service the OIC’s obsession with Israel’s annihilation.
This is in line with Russia’s and China’s coalition (OIC/Arab League, North Korea, and others) of countries that intend to remove democracies from their regions, including Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
GUERMANTES LAILARI a visiting researcher at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research and JPC Fellow. He is also a retired USAF Foreign Area Officer specializing in the Middle East and Europe as well as counterterrorism, irregular warfare, and missile defense.
