China’s view on Trump’s plan to displace Palestinians from the Gaza to Egypt and Jordan

As an Egyptian expert specializing in Chinese political affairs and the policies of the ruling Communist Party in China, what caught my attention most analytically was the denunciation by all official Chinese newspapers and media outlets affiliated with the ruling Communist Party in China of the statements of US President Donald Trump, in which he expressed his desire for Egypt and Jordan to receive Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, stressing that these statements represent a serious threat to Palestinian rights, lead to increased suffering of the Palestinian people, and represent a threat to Egyptian and Arab national security. At the same time, political circles in Beijing expressed their satisfaction with the approval of the Israeli Security Cabinet for Political Affairs to agree to the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, which includes three stages, including the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees and prisoners in Israeli prisons.

  Here we note that Chinese media coverage of the events in Palestine after the last Gaza war in October 2023 has increased significantly, and some channels and Chinese news agencies have sent many correspondents to the Gaza Strip, Israel, and all Palestinian territories to track the echo and news of the war and transmit it to public opinion in China firsthand. Chinese Foreign Minister “Wang Yi” also demanded in a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, in October 2024 that it was necessary to put an end to the humanitarian disasters in the Gaza Strip, according to what was covered by official Chinese media. Because of these Chinese positions supporting the rights of the Palestinians after the Gaza war, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth launched a sharp attack on China, with the Israeli newspaper accusing Beijing of sponsoring what it considered anti-Israel propaganda on Chinese social media to influence public opinion domestically and internationally alike. The leaders of the Political Bureau of the ruling Communist Party of China, on the sidelines of the second session of the 14th National People’s Congress of China, confirmed through the member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party and Chinese Foreign Minister “Wang Yi”, that “we support Palestine to become a full member of the United Nations,” and that the catastrophe occurring in Gaza reminded the world once again of the fact that it is no longer possible to ignore that the Palestinian territories have been occupied for a long time, and that the long-awaited desire of the Palestinian people to establish an independent state can no longer be avoided, and that the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people cannot continue for generations without being corrected, according to what the leaders of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party stated to the Chinese media, while they all confirmed that China will be a global force for peace and stability.

  Here came the follow-up of the White House in Washington and all American institutions and departments, along with the Israeli and Western ones, to the meetings of the second session of the 14th National People’s Congress of China, to understand what they are planning regarding the Palestinian issue and the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, as the convening of the “two annual sessions” for the year 2024 of the 14th National People’s Congress of China and the National Committee of the Political Consultative Conference in parallel, constitutes a rare opportunity to sense the strategy of the Chinese government led by the Communist Party for the coming year during the current year 2025, especially those related to the most prominent issues and conflicts in the Middle East, at the top of which, of course, is the Palestinian issue. This year’s meetings are receiving close attention and monitoring to monitor the confidence of Chinese leaders in the current geopolitical circumstances surrounding the Middle East according to the interests of the Chinese. Chinese circles also denounced US President Donald Trump’s proposal to expel large numbers of Palestinians from Gaza to cleanse the entire Strip, which sparked widespread controversy and was met with great rejection, according to the Chinese themselves, even by US allies in the region, and was attacked by everyone, considering it a dangerous, illegal, and unworkable proposal. Chinese political circles considered that the forced displacement of Gaza residents would be a war crime, because this simply means, according to the Chinese, that cleansing Gaza immediately after the end of the war on the Gaza Strip would in fact be a continuation of the war through the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, and this is unacceptable.

Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations, “Fu Cong” described the hell of the war in Gaza, saying literally, “If the number of deaths in Gaza is not enough to awaken the conscience of some Western countries, then their alleged protection of the human rights of Muslims is nothing but the biggest lie”. Chinese Foreign Minister “Wang Yi” also described the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip as a “stain on civilization.”. Beijing has called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza since the current war between Israel and Hamas began in October 2023. It should be noted that China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Chinese President “Xi Jinping” has called for an international peace conference to resolve the conflict and has hosted all the warring Palestinian factions to bring them closer together in the face of the confrontation with Israel, which has provoked and angered Tel Aviv and Washington in the face of China’s support for the Palestinian factions after the Gaza war and hosting them all in Beijing.

  In this context, analyses of Chinese think tanks specializing in Middle Eastern affairs and their professors on the issue of the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan came, the most prominent of which was the statement of Chinese Professor Ding Long, Professor of Arab-Chinese Relations at Shanghai International Studies University, who confirmed that: “the Chinese people realized the ugly face of Zionism because before the outbreak of the war, there was sympathy from some intellectuals in China with Israel, which shows its bright face through development and technology, but this war on the Gaza Strip has changed Chinese public opinion towards Israel, as the vast majority of the Chinese people, in all their categories, now support the Palestinian people and sympathize with them because of the fierce aggression and genocide they have been subjected to”. The headlines and main titles in the Chinese press also described the war on Gaza as “a tragedy for humanity and a stain on civilization, as today, in the twenty-first century, this humanitarian disaster cannot be stopped.”. Beijing has taken several positions on the war on the Gaza Strip, including that the Chinese government and Chinese President “Xi Jinping” have all highlighted the (right of return of Palestinian refugees to their country), and the political and diplomatic circles in Beijing have not condemned Hamas. Rather, China and Russia have prevented a resolution in the UN Security Council condemning Hamas. In November 2024, China, as the international president of the UN Security Council, led several emergency discussions aimed at condemning Israel. Even during the US presidential election race that ended with Trump’s victory, the official Chinese confirmation came that they do not bet on any US administration led by either of the two competing parties, in light of their continued support for Tel Aviv, considering it “a partner in the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip.”. Israeli diplomats at the Israeli embassy in Beijing were also frustrated that the Chinese authorities, according to their statements, covered up the incident of the stabbing of the Israeli deputy consul in the Chinese capital, Beijing, by a man in Beijing believed to be an extremist, according to a press report published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. With complete Israeli astonishment, Beijing did not express any condemnation of Hamas, even with the killing of 4 Chinese citizens in the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation launched by Hamas. Rather, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Wei, while chairing a discussion session in the Security Council in late November 2024, described the actions of the Israeli army as “collective punishment” and the transfer of Palestinian civilians inside Gaza as “forced displacement completely rejected by China and the international community,” which angered Israel and its American ally in the face of China’s position in support of the Palestinian cause and the people of Gaza and in rejection of Trump’s current statements regarding the displacement of Palestinians. With Chinese Foreign Minister “Wang Yi” confirming that his country rejects the collective punishment of the residents of Gaza and their forced and collective displacement.

  Here came the official Chinese response regarding the issue of the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan, through the Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, “Geng Shuang” , in a general session of the Fourth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly regarding Israeli settlement practices and activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, according to the coverage of the official Chinese News Agency in Beijing, through a number of headlines in the press and official Chinese media, regarding the statements of “Geng Shuang”, Deputy Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, that “China strongly rejects the forced displacement of the Palestinian population”, calling for the immediate lifting of the evacuation order from northern Gaza, citing the statement of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, that the situation today in the Gaza Strip did not happen in a vacuum, and that the truth behind the conflict in Gaza is that the living space of the Palestinians has been reduced to the minimum due to more than half a century of brutal Israeli occupation of them.

  The Chinese delegate also pointed out that the continued expansion of settlement activities on Palestinian lands, Israel’s seizure of Palestinian resources, and the violation of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination have made the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state more difficult, while the Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations stressed that the escalation of violence, the deteriorating humanitarian situation, and the spread of despair are a constant reminder that the current situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is unsustainable and must be stopped. China has officially called on Israel, through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to stop violating Security Council Resolution 2334, stop all settlement activities, stop expelling Palestinians, stop the increasing settler violence, and return to the right track of the two-state solution as soon as possible.

   Accordingly, we understand China’s official position in support of the Palestinian cause and the people of Gaza and in rejecting their forced displacement to Egypt and Jordan, according to the statements of US President “Donald Trump”, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirming, according to its official statements, that the international community should confront the root causes of the problem and should not use crisis management in a fragmented manner as an alternative to a comprehensive and just solution to the Palestinian issue or to compensate for the political and security deficit with economic and humanitarian measures for the residents of the Gaza Strip.

Dr.Nadia Helmy
Dr.Nadia Helmy
Associate Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Politics and Economics / Beni Suef University- Egypt. An Expert in Chinese Politics, Sino-Israeli relationships, and Asian affairs- Visiting Senior Researcher at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)/ Lund University, Sweden- Director of the South and East Asia Studies Unit