Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blasted Beijing on Monday for refusing to denounce Hamas‘s attack on Israel, telling Chinese President Xi Jinping that he was “disappointed” by his country’s lack of sympathy and support.
“I urge you and the Chinese people to stand with the Israeli people and condemn the cowardly and vicious attacks upon them,” Schumer told Xi at a meeting he attended with the Chinese leader and a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers. “I say this with respect, but I was disappointed by the foreign minister’s statement showing no sympathy or his support for the Israeli people during these tragedies.”
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Schumer’s comments came a few hours after he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during which he criticized China’s response to the escalation in violence in the Middle East, which in turn added tension to a meeting between the United States and China that was designed to smooth ties between the two world powers.
The relationship between the U.S. and China has frayed over problems related to Taiwan and Hong Kong, new territorial maps that China drew giving themselves land that belongs to other countries, as well as disputes over the South China Sea. Schumer’s comments could complicate attempts to improve relations between China and the U.S.
The American delegation was in China when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Saturday that his country was at war following a surprise attack by Hamas firing more than 3,000 missiles and infiltrating the southern part of Israel. The death toll from the militant group, as well as Israel’s air strikes in Gaza, has climbed to more than 1,100 people. At least nine Americans have been killed, the State Department said Monday.
China has cast itself as a neutral party in the decadeslong conflict in the Middle East and has refrained from specifically condemning Hamas for the attacks. A day after Israel’s declaration of war, China joined Russia, Turkey, and several Arab states in calling for calm and restraint.
Schumer said that during his meeting with Xi, he requested China to “use its influence in Iran to not allow the conflagration to spread.”
“They have influence with Iran in many different ways, and we asked them to do everything they could to not have Iran spread this conflagration through themselves and through Hezbollah,” he said during a press conference, referring to the Lebanese militant group backed by Tehran.
Schumer said China would “deliver the message.”
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Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, said Monday that “China is a common friend of both Israel and Palestine,” while an editorial published in the Global Times, which is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, blamed Western countries for the escalation in the Middle East and said the escalation was led by the U.S.
The editorial also cautioned China against taking sides in the conflict, saying it would do no good and only add “fuel to the fire,” the New York Times reported.
