Chinese state media reported early Tuesday that the country's foreign minister told his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen in a phone call that China will do its utmost when it comes to contributing to Palestinian-Israeli reconciliation.
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China will firmly support any resolution as long as it is conducive to peace, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Cohen, calling the conflict a "major choice between war and peace", state media said on Tuesday.
Wang also called for Israel to take effective measures to protect the safety of Chinese citizens and institutions in the Middle East, adding that "all countries have the right to self-defense, but they should abide by international humanitarian law and protect the safety of civilians."
China has condemned violence and attacks on civilians in the war, and while Wang has declared Israel's actions "beyond the scope of self-defense" he has not named Hamas in his comments.
The call comes just days before Wang will travel to the United States in a long-anticipated visit that comes amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, which U.S. officials hope Beijing can help contain. Wang will visit Washington from Oct. 26-28 and meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and President Joe Biden's national security advisor Jake Sullivan, officials said, declining to say if he will meet with Biden as well.
The trip will be the highest-level in-person engagement ahead of an expected meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November.
It is also the long-awaited reciprocal visit after several top U.S. officials including Blinken visited Beijing this summer. Washington's top priority has been to ensure the intense competition between the world's two largest economies and that their disagreements over a host of issues from trade to Taiwan and the South China Sea do not veer into conflict.
"We continue to believe that direct face-to-face diplomacy is the best way to raise challenging issues, address misperception and miscommunication, and explore working with the Chinese where our interests intersect," said one official, who briefed reporters on the trip on condition of anonymity.