Why Netanyahu and Abbas Went to China

This past week, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited China. It was the first time Beijing ever simultaneously hosted the leaders of the two rival nations. As China’s new president discussed peace with Abbas, the media rushed to anoint the joint visits as evidence that China had come of age in the Middle East. The growing East Asian power, whose dependence on Arab oil grows higher every year, was depicted as ready to play a genuine role in the peace process. One influential analyst suggested that the new Chinese president’s peace initiative to Abbas was “a momentous shift in China’s foreign policy.”

In embracing this narrative, observers swallowed the story Beijing wanted while completely missing the real reason for Abbas’s visit.