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China Can Posture, But It Can't Bring Peace to the Middle East

(TIME) Karl Vick - In talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Chinese President Xi Jinping brought up a four-point plan to bring the century-old Israel-Arab conflict to an end. "The Chinese are trying to be Europeans," says Gerald Steinberg, professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. "They want to be global actors, and the way to be global actors is to claim that you have something to offer. They have good trade relations with Israel, but there's a huge gap in terms of understanding the perceptions of the region." The reality, Steinberg says, is that no country except the U.S. is trusted enough by both sides to serve as broker to peace talks. The Chinese proposal "is not really a plan, just a collection of slogans trying to satisfy everybody," says Yitzhak Shichor, a specialist in Asian studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "I don't think China has the tools, it doesn't have the connections, it doesn't have the legacy of long-term involvement in the Middle East. I think it's going to take time for China really to offer something that will be acceptable to all sides."
2013-05-08 00:00:00
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