On Tuesday, I conducted a very informative and far-reaching conversation with Prof. John Mearsheimer, as part of our “Gaza & the World” series. At the end of it, both he and I remained perplexed as to why neither Russia nor China had used their veto to block the (appallingly colonial) U.S. draft resolution on Gaza. Soon thereafter, Amb. Chas W. Freeman, Jr., read the transcript of that convo and responded with a few quick and very smart thoughts of his own.
Freeman is someone who knows both China and the politics/diplomacy of West Asia very well. Read his biography here.
Anyway, he wrote to me that he didn’t find the Chinese abstention on Monday “at all inexplicable.” His surmise on Beijing’s reasoning, reported here with his permission, went as follows:
— China practices strategic neutrality. It does not take sides in disputes between third countries with which it seeks to maintain good relations.
— China traditionally defers to the Arab consensus and many of the Arabs, to their great shame, endorsed a version of the Trump plan.
— China (and Russia) agree with you and John Mearsheimer. They foresee that the Trump plan for Gaza is unimplementable and will further diminish the reputation of the United States. Why try to stop that?
— China will be criticized only by those who disagree with the shameful position of their governments on this matter. China deals with the powers that be. It stays in with the outs but does not pander to them.
For all these reasons, while I wish the Chinese position were otherwise, I am not surprised by it.
By the way, back in September I’d conducted a substantive and very intriguing conversation with Freeman himself under the title “Gaza’s Genocide & Our Shifting World Order.” Several of the insights that he shared during that conversation prompted me– and the whole of the Just World Ed board– to launch our current “Gaza & the World” project. Obviously, we’ll hope to get Freeman back onto the series as soon as we can!