Residents walk by the logo for the Belt and Road Forum outside the China National Convention Center in Beijing, on October 16, 2023. A stream of leaders of emerging market countries are arriving in Beijing for a meeting organised by the Chinese government that will mark the 10th anniversary of its Belt and Road Initiative.
| Photo Credit: AP

China prepared on Monday to host representatives of 130 countries for a forum that will be overshadowed by the Israel-Gaza war, as an increasingly assertive Beijing is asked to help de-escalate the violence.

At the top of the invite list to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum is Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, on his first trip to a major global power since the Ukraine invasion threw his regime into international isolation.

Leaders have begun to trickle into the Chinese capital for a gala event marking a decade of the BRI — a key project of President Xi Jinping to extend China’s global reach.

While China hopes the forum will help boost its standing as a leading global power, Israel’s war with Palestinian militant organisation Hamas will continue to dominate the headlines.

Israel declared war on the Islamist group after waves of its fighters broke through the heavily fortified border on October 7, shooting, stabbing and burning to death more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians. Under heavy Israeli bombardment of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, more than one million people have fled their homes in scenes of chaos and despair.

Israel’s bombing has left at least 2,670 people dead in Gaza, mainly civilians, and flattened entire neighbourhoods.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has condemned Israel’s actions for going “beyond the scope of self-defence” and called for it to “cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza”.

“(Israel) should listen earnestly to the calls of the international community and the UN secretary general, and cease its collective punishment of the people of Gaza,” Wang said Sunday, in what is the strongest stance China has expressed so far on the conflict.

Beijing has been criticised by Western officials for not specifically naming Hamas in its statements on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Mr. Wang had on Sunday spoken with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who called on China to use its “influence” in the Middle East to push for calm.

China has a warm relationship with Iran, whose clerical leadership supports both Hamas and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group that could open a second front against Israel.

Earlier this year, China brokered an entente between former regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Beijing’s special envoy Zhai Jun will visit the Middle East this week to push for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and promote peace talks, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said on Sunday, without specifying which countries he would visit.

Niva Yau, a nonresident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told AFP the BRI summit would allow Beijing to frame attendance as a gesture of support for its position.

“Any head of state that attends the summit, it’s almost as if they agree with Beijing’s positions on these global issues,” she said.

Strategic dependence

A number of leaders have already arrived in Beijing ahead of the two-day forum, which kicks off Tuesday.

Among them are Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Kenyan President William Ruto and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

On Monday Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov flew into Beijing and within hours held talks with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Mr. Putin — whose strategic dependence on China has only grown since his invasion of neighbouring Ukraine thrust his country into international isolation — is expected to arrive overnight.

This year, trade between China and Russia has soared to levels not seen since the beginning of Moscow’s war in Ukraine, with Chinese imports of Russian oil offering Moscow a critical lifeline as international sanctions bite.

China has refused to condemn the Ukraine war in an effort to position itself as a neutral party, while at the same time offering Moscow vital diplomatic and financial support.

At the heart of the deepening partnership is the relationship between Xi and Putin, who have described each other as “dear friends”.

Their alliance is also forged by a symbiotic necessity, each seeing the other as a necessary bulwark in their shared struggle against Western dominance.

In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CGTN ahead of his visit this week, Mr. Putin hailed ties with Beijing and the “mutual benefits” of the BRI.

“President Putin pointed out that a multipolar world is taking shape, and the concepts and initiatives put forward by President Xi Jinping are highly relevant and significant,” CGTN reported.

“He stated that President Xi Jinping is a well-recognised leader on the world stage and is a true world leader,” it said.

Mr. Putin also reportedly “shared pleasant memories between President Xi and him, and hoped tradition continues when they meet in China in the future.”

File picture of a Pakistan Navy soldier standing guard while a loaded Chinese ship prepares to depart, at Gwadar port, about 700 km west of Karachi. The port is expected to be a part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative
| Photo Credit: AP

China said on Thursday that 90 countries have confirmed attendance for its Belt and Road Initiative conference being held in October,

The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) will be held in Beijing in October, the foreign ministry has previously said, with 2023 marking the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Several foreign leaders are expected to attend, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, state media reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also has a scheduled visit to China in October when the country hosts the One Belt One Road forum, Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov said recently, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.

“We have received an invitation and plan to go to China,” Ushakov said, according to a report from the Global Times.

China’s foreign ministry said the country has signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations, according to Xinhua.

“Over the past decade, Belt and Road cooperation has achieved fruitful outcomes,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin recently said at a press conference, adding that it has established more than 3,000 cooperation projects and galvanized nearly $1 trillion of investment, state media reported.

Critics see the ambitious Belt and Road initiative — billed as recreating the ancient Silk Road to boost global trade infrastructure — as a tool for President Xi Jinping’s China to spread its geopolitical and economic influence.

Debate in the West over economic dependence on China has cast a shadow over longer-term trade and investment relations with Beijing. Italy, the sole Group of Seven nation in Belt and Road, said the decision by a previous government to join had been “atrocious”.