On Hamas Terrorism and Sympathy for the Palestinians by Zhang Jiadong

"There is no contradiction between being opposed to terrorism and sympathising with the Palestinians."

China has so far refused to characterise Hamas’s October 7th onslaught against Israeli citizens as a terrorist attack and has been unwilling to criticise the organisation by name. Shortly after the attack, the PRC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs simply stated that it condemned “acts that harm civilians” and “that escalate the conflict and destabilise the region”, while re-emphasising the need to “restart the peace talks” and “implement the two-state solution”. Since then, Wang Yi, China's Foreign Minister, has described Israel’s reprisals in Gaza as going “beyond the scope of self-defence”, called for a ceasefire and urged the Israeli government to stop its “collective punishment of the people of Gaza”. Most of these statements were reiterated on Monday during Wang’s meeting with a delegation of Arab and Muslim leaders in Beijing, aimed at stepping up efforts to bring Israel’s current campaign against Hamas in Gaza to a halt.

Much like Beijing, online commentaries by both ordinary Chines…