In his conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, June 19, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward a four-point proposal for addressing the dangerous crisis in the Middle East: “ceasefire must be an urgent priority; ensuring civilian safety must be a top priority; dialogue and negotiation are the fundamental solutions; and the international community’s peacemaking efforts are indispensable,” as the Global Times editorial reported today.
The two leaders of Russia and China sent a message to the international community: “De-escalate tensions and safeguard regional peace,” it states. With Israel bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the United States, “a major power with special influence over Israel … not play[ing] a constructive role,” the situation in the Middle East “is at serious risk of spiraling out of control.” There is only an extremely narrow window of opportunity to resolve the crisis, but “once the situation spirals out of control, it will be far more difficult to reverse course,” the editorial warned.
The Chinese official read-out of the Xi-Putin call elaborates Xi’s proposal. His starting point was that “the use of force is not a right way to resolve international disputes and only serves to deepen hatred and confrontation.
“The parties involved in the conflict, especially Israel, should halt military operations as soon as possible to prevent a spiral of escalation and to firmly avoid the spread of war beyond the region, Xi said.” The second priority is that civilian safety be ensured, as specified under international law.
“Dialogue and negotiation are the fundamental solutions, Xi said, adding that communication and dialogue are the right ways to achieve lasting peace.” The parties must put the crisis back on the track of finding a political solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, through dialogue and negotiation.
For this, he added: “The international community’s peacemaking efforts are indispensable, Xi said, adding that without stability in the Middle East, there can hardly be peace in the world…. The international community, especially major countries that have a special influence on parties to the conflict, should make efforts to cool down the situation, not the opposite….” The UN Security Council must play a bigger role in this regard. China stands ready to play a constructive role in restoring peace to the region, he concluded.
Both the Chinese read-out on the call and Russia’s read-out emphasized that the two heads of state “spoke highly of the political mutual trust and high-level strategic coordination between China and Russia, and agreed to maintain close high-level exchanges, advance cooperation in various fields, and deepen the development of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.”
