What changed
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi directly told Israeli President Isaac Herzog to stop the “forced establishment” of settlements in the West Bank and reverse those actions during a meeting in Azerbaijan on Thursday.
Wang also called full access to Gaza an “immediate priority” and urged a return to dialogue. Herzog said the discussion covered bilateral relations and Middle East security, including threats from Iran and its allies.
Why it matters
This was a direct diplomatic demand, not just a restatement of China’s support for a Palestinian state. Beijing put settlement expansion and Gaza access in the same conversation, tying the West Bank’s future to the immediate humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The timing matters. The Gaza ceasefire began in October 2025, but the next phase of the deal remains stalled. More than 1,400 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes during the following year, while people in Gaza still face displacement, food insecurity and the threat of further strikes.
China has tried to position itself as a mediator in the Middle East, including brokering restored diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023. Its influence here is harder to measure. The meeting produced no reported Israeli policy commitment, and there is no clear sign yet that China’s intervention will change negotiations or conditions on the ground.
For now, the significance is political: Beijing is pressing Israel personally and publicly while presenting Gaza access and a two-state solution as linked parts of the same unresolved conflict.
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