China urges US to play ‘constructive role’ in Middle East

Beijing criticizes the United States for being biased against Israel.

Beijing:

China urged the United States to play a “constructive role” in the Middle East following a phone call between China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and U.S. Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken on Friday.

The State Department said Blinken used the call to ask Beijing to use its influence to prevent Iran from attacking Israel. On April 1, Israel attacked an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, raising fears of retaliation from Tehran.

China confirmed the call on Friday, saying Wang “expressed China’s strong condemnation of the attack” while stressing the “inviolability” of the security rights of diplomatic institutions and the need to respect the sovereignty of Iran and Syria.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning added: “China will continue to play a constructive role in resolving the Middle East issue… and contribute to cooling down the situation.”

“The United States in particular should play a constructive role.”

The attack killed seven members of the Islamic Republic’s elite Revolutionary Guards, including two generals, and Iran’s clerical leadership vowed to fight back.

The United States has repeatedly publicly called on China to take more measures to deal with the crisis, including putting pressure on Iran, which supports Hamas.

Beijing, in turn, accuses the United States of being biased against Israel.

“This round of escalation is the latest manifestation of the spread of the conflict in Gaza, and the top priority is to quell the conflict in Gaza as soon as possible,” Mao Zedong said on Friday, adding that Beijing called for an immediate ceasefire.

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that U.S. support for Israel’s security was “ironclad” even as he criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war conduct in Gaza.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)