Hamas and Fatah have agreed to resume dialogue aimed at ending their split following talks in Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

The ministry confirmed that the two Palestinian sides held talks in Beijing at a time when China is stepping up efforts to broker reconciliation between the rival factions amid escalating fighting in Gaza.

“[Fatah and Hamas] held an in-depth and sincere dialogue on promoting internal reconciliation in Palestine,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, adding that the two sides fully expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation through dialogue and consultation, discussed many specific issues and made positive progress.

“The two sides agreed to continue this dialogue process and strive for the unity and reunification of Palestine as soon as possible,” Lin said: “Both sides appreciated China’s strong support for the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights, thanked China for its efforts to strengthen Palestinian internal unity, and agreed on ideas for future dialogues.”

China’s stance and mediation efforts on the Palestinian issue

The talks underlined China’s renewed efforts to promote reconciliation in Palestine, which has been divided since the Fatah-Hamas conflict in 2007. Fatah heads the Palestinian Authority, which controls parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Hamas, which has long had strained relations with Fatah, controls the Gaza Strip.

Reuters reported last week that senior Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmad and senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk travelled to China on Friday for talks. This is the first known Hamas visit to China since the Gaza conflict began in October. Chinese envoy Wang Kejian met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar last month.

A similar meeting was held in Russia in February, during which the two sides were urged to unite before negotiating with Israel. The meeting came amid a major power shift in the Palestinian Authority, which is under increasing pressure from the West to reform in order to take control of Gaza after the war ends.

China is believed to have good relations with both Hamas and Fatah. Beijing has long called for unity in Palestine, whose independence it supports.

Since the start of the Gaza conflict, Beijing has become increasingly vocal about the legitimate rights of the Palestinians and has called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza.

Beijing also supports Palestine’s full membership of the United Nations. This position has repeatedly brought it into conflict with the United States in the UN Security Council. Washington, a close ally of Israel, recently vetoed a Palestinian bid to join the organisation, drawing sharp criticism from Beijing.

China appears to be strengthening its position in the Middle East amid growing rivalry with the United States. China has also stepped up its role as a mediator in global conflicts, having brokered a historic rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia last year.

Ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China, US officials have adopted the tactic of expressing strong concern over China’s support for Russia and the Taiwan issue to put pressure on Beijing. Chinese observers, however, said that the recent frequent visits to China by Blinken and a number of US officials show that Washington cannot solve domestic and global problems without China’s cooperation.

Blinken will meet with senior Chinese officials in both Shanghai and Beijing during his 24-26 April visit, CNN reported on Saturday, citing a senior US State Department official.

Blinken will discuss “a range of bilateral, regional and global issues,” including the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, the US State Department said on Saturday.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken would also discuss progress in “resuming counternarcotics cooperation, military-to-military communications, artificial intelligence, and strengthening people-to-people ties” and reaffirm the importance for the United States and China to “responsibly manage competition, even in areas where our countries disagree,” according to media reports.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian welcomed Blinken’s visit at a press briefing on Thursday, but gave no further details.

Tensions remain

Although Sino-US relations have stabilised somewhat since the two leaders met in San Francisco last year, tensions remain. During Blinken’s visit to China, the Philippines and the US will hold the largest Balikatan exercise to date in an area that includes waters China recognises as its sovereign territory. Washington also deployed the Typhon medium-range surface-to-surface missile launcher in the region for the first time, despite Beijing’s objections. China reacted to the deployment of the system and the exercise, which came very close to it.

The trilateral and bilateral summits of the US, Japan and the Philippines at the White House in mid-April targeted China’s influence in the region while taking historic decisions on trilateral military and defence cooperation. Beijing sees the expansion of the US military and intelligence presence in the region through its Asian allies as an attempt to “contain” it, while Washington opposes it.

Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday that the purpose of Blinken’s visit was to implement the consensus of the two leaders, but given the so-called focus points announced by the US administration, it is possible that the visit will widen differences and create more negative factors.

Lü cited as an example the annual joint military exercises between Philippine and US forces, which are believed to be aimed at China.

During his visit, Blinken will also reportedly ask Beijing to refrain from “provocative” actions during next month’s swearing-in ceremony for Lai Ching-te, who was elected Taiwan’s regional leader in January, AFP quoted a US official as saying.

Chinese experts say the Biden administration is trying to “show some teeth” on global issues because of the upcoming US presidential election, but also because Biden wants to stabilise relations with China to avoid possible incidents that could harm his election chances.

Aid package for Ukraine

CNN quoted a US State Department official as saying on Saturday that Blinken plans to “reiterate our deep concerns about the PRC’s support for Russia’s defence industrial base, as well as its human rights abuses and unfair economic and trade practices”.

The US House of Representatives on Saturday approved billions of dollars in new US military aid to Ukraine. The foreign aid package passed on Saturday also includes military support for Israel and funding for allies in the Asia-Pacific region, including the island of Taiwan.

According to Chinese experts, after overcoming the obstacles to sending aid to Ukraine, Washington will inevitably focus on blocking China’s trade with Russia. China will face a new challenge from the United States in defending its sovereignty in foreign trade, they said, while Washington should be aware that it has few tools to pressure China on this issue.

The United States is withdrawing its troops from Niger at the request of the government that took power after a military coup.

According to local media reports, the decision to withdraw troops came after talks in Washington between US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine. News reports said the US had agreed to close the unmanned aerial vehicle base.

The US, which has around 1,100 troops in Niger, continues to operate from two bases. The most important of these is the $100 million Niger Air Base 201, located near the city of Agadez at the southern end of the Sahara.

A US delegation is expected to travel to Niger’s capital, Niamey, in the next few days to ensure an orderly withdrawal of troops.

Senior US officials travelled to Niger last month to try to ensure that the US would maintain its base in the country despite the suspension of military and development aid to Niger’s coup government. But after three days of waiting, the US delegation left without meeting the country’s military commander, General Abdurrahmane Tchiani, and a day later Niger announced the end of the military partnership Washington had come to secure.

In Niger, President Mohammed Bazum was arrested by elements of the presidential guard regiment on 26 July 2023, and the military announced the seizure of power that evening. General Abdurrahmane Tchiani, commander of the presidential guard regiment, became head of the transitional government, called the National Council for the Protection of the Homeland (CNSP). The CNSP appointed Lamine Zeine as Prime Minister and formed a 21-member cabinet of military and civilians.

After announcing the end of security ties with Washington, Niamey hosted a delegation of Chinese oil executives interested in expanding mining operations in the country, met directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin to strengthen security ties, and welcomed dozens of Russian military trainers and an advanced air defence system. Niger hosted the Iranian ambassador to finalise the establishment of official diplomatic relations with Tehran, which is reportedly keen to invest in the country’s uranium sector.