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WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 In June, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the Palestinian president<\/a> in Beijing and invited the Israeli prime minister for an official state visit. Benjamin Netanyahu accepted, and China was on track for a bigger role in the region.<\/p>\n Then came the Hamas attack<\/a> against Israel, which has made Netanyahu\u2019s late October trip uncertain and put Beijing’s Middle East approach to the test. China\u2019s stated neutrality on the war has upset Israel, but Beijing may gain in the long run by forging closer ties with Arab countries, experts said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a while at least, Beijing\u2019s Middle East policy is paralyzed by the war,\u201d said Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Beijing-based Renmin University of China. \u201cThe U.S., which strongly supports Israel, is directly or indirectly involved. Who is there to listen to China?\u201d<\/p>\n That hasn’t stopped China from trying to be heard.<\/p>\n Its Middle East envoy, Zhai Jun, talked to Palestinian and Egyptian officials by phone this past week, calling for an immediate cease-fire and humanitarian support for the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n Zhai also called Israeli officials to say China \u201chas no selfish interests on the Palestinian issue but has always stood on the side of peace, on the side of fairness and justice.\u201d He said that \u201cChina is willing to work with the international community to promote peace and encourage talks.\u201d<\/p>\n Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, came out more strongly for the Palestinians, saying \u201cthe crux of the matter is that justice has not been done to the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis conflict once again proved in an extremely tragic manner that the way to solve the Palestinian issue lies in resuming genuine peace talks as soon as possible and realizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation,\u201d Wang said during a call with an adviser to the Brazilian president.<\/p>\n China has long advocated for a two-state solution that allows for an independent Palestinian state.<\/p>\n Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while traveling in the Mideast over the weekend, called Wang to ask China to use whatever influence it has in the region to keep other countries and groups from entering the conflict and broadening it, according to the State Department, which declined to characterize Wang\u2019s response. China is known to have close trade and political ties with Iran, which in turn supports Hamas and Lebanon\u2019s Hezbollah.<\/p>\n The conversation was the first high-level U.S. contact with China over the Mideast situation since the Hamas attack.<\/p>\n Beijing, by trying to maintain a delicate balance, wants to position itself as a mediator and exert its influence in the region, said Maria Papageorgiou, a lecturer in politics and international relations at University of Exeter, and Mohammad Eslami, a researcher at University Minho, in joint email.<\/p>\n The U.S. support for Israel will give China an opportunity to expand its arms sales to dissatisfied Arab countries, but China also wants to resolve the crisis to protect its economic interests in the region, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cChina\u2019s engagement in the Middle East is set to increase during this conflict. Beijing will play an enhanced role in efforts to end the war and secure its economic interests and wants to capitalize on the Arab states\u2019 frustration with U.S. to establish itself as a great power in the region,\u201d the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n Beijing’s approach, though, risks alienating Israel.<\/p>\n Tuvia Gering, a researcher at the Israel-China Policy Center at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, described Beijing’s position as \u201cpro-Palestine neutrality,\u201d much like its position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has signaled support for the Kremlin.<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot be neutral in something like this. Silence is acquiescence,\u201d Gering said. \u201cThe problem, I think, the biggest one we have, is that China, instead of being the responsible major power that it claims to be, it is exploiting this conflict for geopolitical benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n He said China was looking to win the support of Arab countries on contentious issues such as Beijing\u2019s treatment of the Muslim ethnic Uyghurs in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.<\/p>\n Under Xi, Beijing has pursued a proactive, sometimes assertive, foreign policy. It has sought closer ties in the Middle East, the source of much of the oil China needs and a nexus in the Belt and Road network<\/a>, Xi\u2019s massive infrastructure-building project to connect markets around the world through railways, roads, seaports and airports and to extend Beijing’s influence.<\/p>\n This year, Beijing helped restore diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran<\/a>, building its credentials as an alternative to the United States in brokering peace deals.<\/p>\n Wang Yiwei, another international relations professor at Renmin University, said China is better positioned than the U.S. to help resolve conflicts, whether between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Russia and Ukraine or Israel and the Palestinians.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re just on one side, and make another side hate you, you cannot be a broker,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that’s the reason China did not join the West to sanction or contain Russia in the Ukraine war. Because we need to be the bridge.\u201d<\/p>\n