China’s top diplomat to visit UN for Israel-Hamas talks

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks in Busan, South Korea, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. (AP)

BEIJING: China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will visit New York this week to hold a United Nations Security Council meeting on the Israel-Hamas conflict, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
“As it holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month, China will hold a high-level meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli issue on November 29,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
Wang Yi will preside over the meeting, he added.
Hamas militants poured across the border on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.
In response, Israel launched a military campaign to destroy Hamas, killing nearly 15,000 people, mostly civilians and including thousands of children, according to Gaza’s Hamas government.
China said last week it welcomed a truce between Israel-Hamas, which began Friday and led to dozens of hostages being freed and the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.
The deal entered its final 24 hours on Monday.
Beijing hoped this week’s UN talks would achieve “a cease-fire and an end to the fighting” and make “contributions to alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Wang Wenbin said.
China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an “international peace conference” to resolve the fighting.