China’s reluctance to side with Israel is shared throughout most of Asia

When Chuck Schumer met Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday he asked him to strengthen China’s statement in response to Saturday’s attacks by Hamas in Israel, which killed hundreds. The United States Senate majority leader later welcomed comments from a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman condemning “all violence and attacks on civilians”.

But in response to questions from reporters, the spokeswoman held firm to Beijing’s core message, a call for restraint on both sides and for an immediate end to hostilities. And she restated China’s view that the key to achieving peace lay in a two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

China’s position remains sharply different from that of the US and its allies, which have expressed solidarity with Israel and support for retaliatory action. But Beijing’s reluctance to side with Israel and its analysis of the root cause of the conflict is shared throughout most of the Global South.

The US and the EU were among the first to condemn Hamas’s violent actions on Saturday and to pledge support for Israel, with Ursula von der Leyen authorising the Israeli flag to be projected on to the European Commission’s headquarters in Brussels. In a statement on Monday the leaders of the US, Germany, France, Italy and Britain offered no qualification to their support for Israel’s action in response to the attacks.

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“Our countries will support Israel in its efforts to defend itself and its people against such atrocities. We further emphasise that this is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage,” they said.

“Over the coming days we will remain united and co-ordinated, together as allies, and as common friends of Israel, to ensure Israel is able to defend itself and to ultimately set the conditions for a peaceful and integrated Middle East region.”

Canada, Australia and New Zealand also expressed solidarity with Israel, along with Washington’s key allies in Asia, Japan and South Korea. Alone among the original Brics countries, India also expressed strong support for Israel, a stance that reflects Narendra Modi’s focus on counter-terrorism as well as the growing ties between the two countries.

Russia, Brazil and South Africa took a similar position to China, warning against escalation and calling for a ceasefire and peace talks. Among the six states approved this year for Brics membership, Iran celebrated Hamas’s actions and Argentina said it stood by Israel but Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates called for an immediate end to the violence on both sides.

Few countries have expressed support for Hamas’s actions but some, including Algeria and Tunisia, responded to Saturday’s attacks by asserting the right of Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation. Some African countries have not commented on the weekend’s events but most countries on that continent, like most of Asia and Latin America, have held back from offering solidarity to Israel.

The global reaction maps closely, but not precisely, the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. And some in the Global South have noted an apparent inconsistency in the response of the US and its European allies to the two occupations.

“Why are there two different approaches? For instance, in the Ukraine crisis the Western powers swiftly provided support to Kyiv. Unfortunately, when it comes to Palestine it is entirely disregarded,” Malaysia’s deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told his country’s parliament on Monday. “Moreover,” he added, “any community that has long lived under oppression, suffering, and injustice without defence will certainly have a breaking point. This is what has happened in Palestine all along.”