“Vast swaths of Gaza are now left in rubble and over a million civilians are struggling in despair on the brink of death. That fact that this is even happening in the 21st century is an outrage to the moral conscience of humanity, and tramples on the most fundamental aspect of international justice,” said Lin Jian, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. He continued:
More than 200 days have passed since October 7. The conflict in Gaza has caused over 100 thousand casualties and displaced over a million. A humanitarian catastrophe that should never have happened continues to unfold before our eyes. The biggest imperative is to put in place a ceasefire as soon as possible.
He called out the United States, without naming it:
The relevant country must no longer turn a deaf ear to the call for justice from people with conscience across the world. It must no longer talk about the need of a ceasefire while pouring weapons into the conflict, and talk about aid while creating obstacles for humanitarian access. It must immediately implement relevant UN Security Council resolutions, realize unconditional and durable ceasefire, and take concrete action to end this biggest humanitarian tragedy in the 21st century once and for all.
Speaking to the long-term future of the Palestinian people, Lin said that China will “firmly support Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations at an early date” and demands
a more broad-based, more authoritative and more effective international peace conference to set a timetable and a roadmap for the two-State solution, to promote comprehensive, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question, and to ultimately realize peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine as well as harmony between the Arab and Jewish peoples.
