Wang Yi meets Israel’s President Herzog in Baku: China readout cites Gaza access and West Bank settlements

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Baku on 15 October, on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit, according to a readout published by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The readout says Herzog requested the meeting. It is a Chinese account only; no Israeli readout was consulted for this report.

According to the Chinese readout, Herzog said Israel adheres to the one-China policy and wants to advance relations with China in areas such as science and technology, investment and people-to-people exchanges, with the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties due next year. He is quoted as saying that Israel wants peace but faces national security threats it must respond to, and that it values China’s regional initiatives and is willing to stay in contact with Beijing.

Wang Yi, in the same readout, said relations should rest on mutual respect, equal treatment and mutually beneficial cooperation, and recalled the shared wartime suffering of the Chinese and Jewish peoples. On the Middle East, he is quoted as saying that “the Palestinian question is the biggest historical injustice of this century”, and that “the most pressing task is to comprehensively open the channels into Gaza”. He also said Israel “should also stop and revoke the act of forcibly establishing settlements in the West Bank”, and endorsed the two-state solution.

The readout adds that Wang Yi pointed to President Xi Jinping’s Middle East peace initiatives and urged all parties to return to dialogue and seek a political settlement. It also records his reference to Herzog’s father, a former Israeli president, who the readout says helped establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Context

Wang Yi was in Baku for the CICA summit, where he also met Turkey’s foreign minister; Geopolitiki reported that meeting in Wang Yi and Fidan meet in Baku: China readout cites Belt and Road, Middle Corridor and COP31. Beijing has often paired calls for the two-state solution with criticism of Israeli policy in Gaza and the West Bank, and the readout follows that line. Israel’s own account of the talks should be checked when it is published.

Source: China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, readout of the Wang Yi and Herzog meeting (mfa.gov.cn).