The booing of a Chinese academic in Israel: "No one believes his propaganda"
Yan Xuetong, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University, has accused the military attaché at the Israeli embassy in Beijing of shooting women and children.
Chinese diplomacy is known for adhering to the principle of "non-interference" and maintaining neutrality, regardless of the scale of the catastrophe ahead. Unlike the United States, China has wasted no effort in telling other countries what they should or should not do. Its international action has traditionally focused on another strategic arm: business.
Regarding the war in Gaza, China has also played a rather discreet role within international organizations: until now, it has limited itself to issuing verbal warnings to Israel, such as demanding a ceasefire and an end to hostilities in the Strip, without pushing for any sanctions against Israel, which, in line with UN conclusions, speak of "genocide."
But amidst this panorama, there are dissenting voices that dare to denounce Israel's actions in Gaza. This was the case with renowned Chinese academic Yan Xuetong, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University, who had a tense exchange with Elad Shoshan, the military attaché at the Israeli embassy in Beijing, during the country's largest defense forum, the Xiangshan Forum.
"Your soldiers should shoot terrorists. Not children. Not women," Xuetong told the Israeli diplomat. "When you shot women and children, you lost your legitimacy." She accused Israel of having killed more than 70,000 Israelis. While the figure is higher than the death toll from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry, it is by no means unreasonable. The official tally takes into account deaths in hospitals and in the morgas, but academic models estimate it could increase by 10% to 30% if the bodies left in the rubble are added.
To counter Israel's recurring argument that Hamas terrorists use civilians as human shields, Xuetong made an analogy with a bank robbery and asked the Israeli military if the police should shoot the employees and customers if someone was holding hostages inside the bank.
Shoshan defended himself by arguing that the conflict began because Hamas held its hostages. "The war will end when the terrorist organization releases all of our soldiers and their weapons. We can't stop the war while we hold hostages," he said. The professor replied: "No one believes this kind of propaganda, except for four Israelis." "My solution is to go to the United Nations, work with the United Nations, and agree on a two-state solution. Then you'll have two states and can work together with the Palestinians to fight terrorism," the Chinese academic said.
