Anthony Bliken,the US Secretary of State, has called on China, a partner of Iran, to use its influence to push for calm in the Middle East.
State Department spokesman. Matthew Miller, maintained that Blinken gave the push call during a “productive” one-hour telephone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, amidst his visit to Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.
Our message was that he thinks it’s in our shared interest to stop the conflict from spreading.” Miller told reporters on Blinken’s plane from Riyadh to Abu Dhabi.
He thought it could be useful if China could use its influence.” A readout published by the Chinese foreign ministry, emphasized that China has a warm relationship with Iran, whose clerical leadership supports both Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group ruling Gaza that carried out grisly attacks inside Israel a week ago, and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that could open a second front against Israel.
Chinese foreign minister, Wang on his part said that the United States should “play a constructive and responsible role, pushing the issue back on track for a political settlement as soon as possible,”
“When dealing with international hot-spot issues, major countries must adhere to objectivity and fairness, maintain calmness and restraint, and take the lead in abiding by international law,” said Wang.
He added that Beijing called for “the convening of an international peace meeting as soon as possible to promote the reaching of broad consensus”.
“The fundamental outlet for the Palestinian issue lies in implementing a ‘two-state solution’,” said Wang.
China’s official statements on the conflict have not specifically named Hamas in their condemnations of violence, leading to criticism from some Western officials who said they were too weak.
|Vanguard
