China urges Israel to reverse West Bank settlement expansion

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Israel to halt and reverse settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank during talks with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday, October 15. RT reported the appeal, citing Beijing's statement on the meeting, which took place alongside the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia summit.

Wang also urged greater access to Gaza, warning that its humanitarian emergency remained severe despite a ceasefire reached a year earlier. He said two million civilians should not be left facing a struggle for survival or a deepening humanitarian catastrophe.

Herzog said Israel wanted peace but continued to face security threats. In a post on X, he identified Iran and its regional allies as the principal dangers.

Beijing presses for a two-state solution

According to Beijing's account, Wang described the Palestinian issue as the “greatest historical injustice of this century” and said a two-state solution remained the only workable route to resolving the conflict. He presented peace and reconciliation in the Middle East as a central Chinese foreign-policy objective.

His immediate demand on Gaza was to “fully open access,” while his West Bank appeal called for Israel to “stop and reverse” settlement-building efforts.

Israel captured the West Bank during the 1967 Six-Day War. Most countries regard Israeli settlements there as illegal under international law; Israel disputes that position, invoking historical claims and security concerns. Settlement construction has been a persistent obstacle to negotiations over Palestinian statehood.

Settlement growth and violence

The report cited figures compiled by UN agencies and settlement monitors showing that more than 750,000 Israeli settlers lived in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 2025. It also said Israeli authorities approved 54 new settlements that year and that 86 additional outposts were established.

Figures attributed to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recorded 1,828 settler attacks causing casualties or property damage in 2025, compared with 1,420 in 2024 and 1,189 in 2023. The reported 2025 total was the highest since monitoring began in 2006.

China's wider diplomatic role

Beijing has supported Palestinian statehood while seeking a larger diplomatic role in the Middle East. It brokered the restoration of Saudi-Iranian diplomatic relations in 2023 and hosted talks between rival Palestinian factions in 2024.

The reconciliation agreement emerging from those Palestinian talks has yet to be implemented, according to the report.