China voices ‘deep concern’ following Iranian attack on Israel and urges ‘influential countries’ to work for peace
- Chinese embassy warns citizens in Iran to take precautions after Tehran fires missiles and drones in ‘spillover’ of Gaza conflict
- However, analysts say the attack is unlikely to have substantial impact on Beijing’s ties with the two Middle Eastern countries
“China expresses deep concern over the current escalation and calls on relevant parties to exercise calm and restraint to prevent further escalation,” the ministry said on Sunday morning.
“China calls on the international community, especially influential countries, to play a constructive role in maintaining regional peace and stability.”
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“Please resolutely avoid travelling to sensitive areas and crowded places,” the embassy said on its official WeChat account.
The foreign ministry also joined the call, reminding Chinese citizens to “remain cautious about travelling to Iran” in a separate statement.
Saturday night’s strike was Iran’s first direct attack on Israeli territory.
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The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold an urgent meeting following Iran’s attack.
Israel has called on the Security Council – in which China holds a permanent seat alongside the US, Britain, France and Russia – to condemn the Iranian attack and list the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the main branch of Iran’s armed forces, as a terrorist organisation.
Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of Tehran on Sunday morning to show their support for the attack on Israel, their country’s main enemy.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden condemned the Iranian attack on Saturday night and reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad” support for Israel.
Chinese analysts say Iran’s attack on Israel is unlikely to have a substantial impact on relations between China and the two countries.
Zhu Yongbiao, a professor with the school of politics and international relations at Lanzhou University, said: “If the situation gets worse, it will have a big impact not only on China, but also on the whole regional situation and world security, which is something China does not want to see.”
Zhu added that there was “very wide scope” for China in the Middle East conflicts, including “at a higher level by stopping further escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict, and at another level by opening humanitarian access to Gaza”.
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Yin Gang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, echoed this view, saying that Tehran’s attack would have “no impact” on China’s relations with Iran or Israel.
“Beijing calls for restraint on both sides, and this is a stance taken for granted and has no special significance,” he said.
According to Yin, the attack was rather “a way for Iran to calm the anger of its people”.
Wang Jin, an associate professor at the Institute of Middle East Studies at China’s Northwest University, said Beijing’s statement was “timely” and “acceptable to all parties to the conflict”.
Wang added that the Chinese foreign ministry’s statement, which did not condemn the Iranian attack, was consistent with Beijing’s position that Israel’s attack earlier this month amounted to “spillover” to other countries and that Iran’s attack was a “countermeasure and retaliation”.
Beijing condemned Israel’s attack on the Iranian embassy earlier this month.
Also last year, Iran became the ninth member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security and economic group.
In December, Beijing and Tehran vowed to support and coordinate with each other diplomatically during the Israel-Gaza war.
