Most posts on China’s heavily censored social media are pro-Palestinian. This is no exception to the anti-Semitic views that have circulated in the country for years. Therefore, even posts written by people who support Israel and its right to defend itself are quickly deleted.

The history of Palestine-China relations can be traced back to the 1950s, when China made no secret of its support for Palestine. There may be more reasons why the country is hesitant to condemn Hamas.

According to Tuvia Gering, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, China wants to be seen as a leader on the world stage. He said this in the context of China’s call for unity among Islamic countries and the steps it is taking to strengthen its influence in developing countries. One step was to broker a rapprochement agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which the two countries signed earlier this year.

Another factor influencing China’s restraint towards Hamas is deteriorating relations with the United States. China believes it should “oppose in principle everything the US supports,” which means opposing Washington’s close ally Israel. At the same time, China has so far maintained friendly relations with Israel. The Middle Eastern country is even the second largest supplier of military equipment to China. The server informs about it Newsweek.

Additionally, China is forced to maintain good relations with those who openly support its message from Muslim-majority regions such as Xinjiang. Washington has previously described events in the region and the harsh treatment of its residents as genocide.

China’s UN ambassador on Thursday criticized the United States for vetoing a Brazilian proposal calling for a halt to fighting so much-needed aid could be sent to the Gaza Strip.

Russia: A good old friend

China has spent more than a year avoiding commenting on the war in Ukraine. In the end, they refused to condemn the Russian invasion and, instead, provided the Kremlin with diplomatic and economic support, which Moscow sorely needed in the wake of sanctions imposed by Western countries against the country.

In Israel’s current war with Hamas, China demands a ceasefire, but at the same time criticizes Israel’s actions and rejects criticism of Hamas’ actions. According to some people, October 7 was the worst day of massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

China supports a two-state solution to the dispute, Palestine and Israel. This stance is consistent with China’s decades-long support for Palestine, but also underscores the sharp differences between China and the United States. They firmly support Israel’s right to retaliate against Hamas. It also emphasizes China’s economic interests in Russia and the Middle East, which it wants to protect at all costs. The country with the second largest economy in the world depends on Russia and the Middle East for energy

“At all costs, China emphasizes solidarity with the world’s major oil producers and seeks to limit anything that could disrupt oil supplies or potentially raise energy prices,” said Cornell University China expert Eswar Prasad.

China is the world’s largest oil importer and buys 71% of its oil consumption abroad. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China has increased its purchases of Russian oil, which is cheaper due to Western sanctions against Moscow. Russia is currently the largest oil supplier to China, after Saudi Arabia.

President of China You are Jinping welcomed its Russian counterpart to Beijing this week, Vladimir Putin. He called him an “old friend” when they met.

Both China and Russia agree on the need to reshape the world order, and they view the United States as its current leader. At the same time, both countries condemned Israel’s actions, which Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said “went beyond the scope of self-defense,” he wrote. CNN.

“Both countries maintain close ties with Iran and see US involvement in regional affairs as one of the reasons for instability in the Middle East,” said Jean-Loup Samaan, senior researcher at the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Hamas and Iran are long-time allies, but Tehran, which supported the Islamist group’s Oct. 7 operation that killed around 1,400 people in Israel, refused to take part in organizing the event.

Meaning of oil

The region plays an important economic role in China’s growth. The Middle East accounts for more than half of the country’s oil imports and slightly more than a third of the country’s total oil consumption. “For every three barrels of oil China consumes, more than one barrel comes from the Middle East,” China National Oil and Gas Producer said in March.

Saudi Arabia has long been the largest oil supplier to China with 17% of oil imports. However, Russia followed suit this year.

Gas trading is also important. Qatar is the second-largest supplier of liquefied natural gas to China, accounting for a quarter of the country’s total imports. Last year, imports of liquefied natural gas from Middle Eastern countries increased 75% compared to the previous year, according to Chinese customs statistics.

China is also pursuing closer economic ties with Iran, which the United States has imposed sanctions on since 2018 because of its nuclear ambitions and military aggression. China’s purchases of sanctioned Iranian oil reached 1.2 million barrels per day in the first half of September.

According to analysts, the involvement of other countries in the conflict between Israel and Hamas could be very detrimental to China. “Both China and the US view maintaining regional stability as a strategic goal,” said Ahmed Aboudouh, Middle East Program Fellow at Chatham House. “Regional conflict means prolonged instability, and prolonged instability means a halt to China’s business interests in the Middle East. Of course, China does not want its economic interests to be harmed.” he added.