Alwaght- Though China in West Asia traditionally focuses on business ties, in recent months it has shown a desire to play a role in settling regional disputes. After mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran that demonstrated its growing engagement in the security and political cases of the region, Beijing is growing active in the Palestinian dispute for a role in the Muslim world's biggest case.
Meanwhile, increasingly convinced about China's burgeoning power and influence in West Asia, Israeli officials are striving to bring this trans-regional actor to their side. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been facing massive crises since he formed his new government seven months ago, is hopeful to make foreign policy gains especially to ease the international pressures on Tel Aviv for its illegal settlement projects in the West Bank and also to conclude the normalization process with the Arab countries.
In this connection, last week, Netanyahu in a meeting with a US Congress delegation in Al-Quds (Jerusalem) informed the Americans that he was invited by China and plans to visit Beijing in the near future. Israeli leaders have not visited China since 2017,and Netanyahu himself visited the Asian power three times during his premiership. Due to the regional and international developments, his visit can be examined from a set of aspects.
Defying Biden administration
Netanyahu's visit comes at a time relations between the Israeli regime and the US have been strained in recent months due to the actions of cabinet of hardliners in Tel Aviv. Netanyahu, who has always had good relations with the White House and managed his relations with different American governments well in order to have the all-out support of the West against the Palestinians, these days has been treated coldly by the White House officials, to an extent that President Joe Biden has not issued permission for him visit to Washington, infuriating the PM. In reaction, he has asked his ministers to avoid from official meetings with their American counterparts until he himself is invited to the White House.
The Times of Israel, citing diplomatic sources, wrote that Beijing visit is aimed at showing Washington Netanyahu has diplomatic alternatives to the US.
Therefore, Tel Aviv’s shift to Beijing is a kind of defiance of Washington, as China is the US’s biggest rival, and they have been teetering on the brink of a military clash over the past months over Taiwan. Netanyahu is certain that the American hegemony in West Asia is on a downward trajectory and now it is China that directs the policy of regional states and this gives the PM every reason to get closer to Beijing.
Israel is a fake regime that needs the support of great powers to survive, and since China will take the world leadership in the coming years, the Israelis are leaning towards Beijing to strengthen their position in the region and the world. But Netanyahu's meeting with Beijing's leaders will rile Washington.
Biden administration has suspended part of its aids to Tel Aviv is response to the latter's settlement construction in the West Bank, and it is not unlikely that it takes further punitive measures in response to Beijing trip.
Though American officials are said to have been informed of the invitation, some Israeli officials consider Netanyahu's visit to be a deliberate and dangerous provocation by him to Biden administration. Israeli circles believe that Netanyahu's visit will not cause Washington review of its policies and invitation of the Israeli PM to the White House, but this trip has a bad timing tactically and will have heavy costs for Israel.
“This is a move that will harm the Israeli interest and not promote it,” Amos Yadlin, ex-chief of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate, said.
He further held that Tel Aviv needs the American government to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia, but China supports the Palestinians and votes in favor of Iran in UN resolutions, and that is why Beijing, with this record, cannot replace Washington for Tel Aviv in terms of security and strategic cooperation.
Concerns about Chinese role in West Asia
Netanyahu is strongly concerned about Chinese-mediated Iran-Saudi Arabia relations improvement. So, he tries to use Chinese influence and position to normalize diplomatic ties with Riyadh. Tel Aviv is worried that by strengthening relations with Iran, the Saudi rulers will restrict the normalization process and prefer harmony with Tehran over any relationship with Tel Aviv. The normalization of relations with Riyadh is highly vital for Netanyahu's cabinet, and he has called it the only solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict, and he does not want to miss this opportunity.
Netanyahu's visit to China can be examined from another aspect, mainly from the aspect of recent interactions of China with the Palestinian conflict. Chinese officials have repeatedly announced their readiness to solve this crisis, and recently Mahmoud Abbas, President of Palestinian Authority (PA), visited Beijing and met with Chinese officials. President Xi Jinping of China told Abbas that his country was willing to help advance peace talks with Israel, which were previously mediated by the US but have not yet reached a conclusion and have been on hold since 2014.
After Abbas’s China visit, a question was raised in the Palestinian and Israeli media and political circles: How far can China go in the region to establish Israeli-Palestinian contacts? Having in mind that the Americans give no prospects for end of the Palestinian dispute, doors are open for China to take active measures that can be recruited to enhance its regional position. If it manages to end the world's longest crisis, it will shine as a pro-peace actor and get its image improved, something posing a serious threat to the US.
In its initiative for the Palestinian conflict, China seeks formation of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and with Eastern Al-Quds as its capital, increasing humanitarian and developmental aids to the Palestinians, an end to provocative Israeli settlement construction, and preparing the ground for peace talks in a larger scale in international meetings. This initiative more benefits the Palestinians than the Israelis and Netanyahu in a recent speech said he will not allow formation of a Palestinian state, and one of China visit aims of him is to persuade Beijing leaders to review their supportive thoughts regarding Palestine. Indeed, the Israelis are worried that China in association with the world community realizes its Palestine ideas and further sideline Tel Aviv.
Additionally, due to its competition with the US, China aspires to step in the American spheres of influence, especially West Asia, and challenge its decades-old hegemony. The political and security developments of the occupied territories, whose case has been under American control for more than seven decades, are more attractive to the leaders of Beijing these days, and they have tried to play a key role in this conflict over the past year.
Though the Israeli government to a large extent shares thoughts with the White House policy regarding Taiwan dispute, it has not taken a hostile stance infuriating China, and Netanyahu’s government has been even more conservative with China than its predecessors.
Beijing and Tel Aviv have relatively massive economic ties, and their trade touched $22 billion last year, showing a 120-percent growth compared to a decade ago. Since China is working to conclude its Road and Belt Initiative and the occupied Palestinian territories fall in its inclusion, Israeli officials are working for a share in this global project to enjoy its benefits. Economy and providing substantial income sources to solidify the Israeli regime's security pillars are crucial for Tel Aviv governments and they prioritize diversification of their markets. This is one reason they count on the Chinese projects and initiatives.
