On the margins of the Seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, a face-to-face exchange took place between Wang Yi and Isaac Herzog, with the Israeli president having sought out the meeting with the Chinese foreign minister.
In remarks conveyed during the meeting, Herzog pointed to a deep-rooted tradition of contact and mutual engagement between Jewish and Chinese communities across the generations. During the conflict against fascism, the two populations extended aid to one another, laying a foundation for ties that historians have since recorded as a notable passage in the shared record between them.
Reaffirming a commitment to the one-China policy, Herzog stated that ties between Israel and China were ones his country sought to nurture and strengthen. Marking the 35th year of formal ties between the two nations — an anniversary falling in the coming year — he conveyed that broadening collaboration across technology, investment, and public exchanges stood as a priority.
Herzog conveyed to Wang that while peace remained the goal, a range of threats and pressures on national security had made a forceful response unavoidable, at least from Israel's perspective. He also conveyed the view that China has consistently acted as a constructive contributor to peace efforts both regionally and on the global stage.
Openness to dialogue with China was conveyed alongside recognition of the proposals Beijing has put forward, with Herzog noting that efforts toward regional stability had been noted and that channels between the two sides would remain open.
Wang, who also holds a seat on the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, noted that both the Chinese and Israeli populations endured considerable hardship under the conditions of World War II, and that the two peoples offered one another support through those difficult circumstances — a history that produced accounts widely regarded as deeply affecting.
Over the three-plus decades since diplomatic ties were first established, Wang noted that the relationship had grown on a stable footing and that joint efforts in practical areas had delivered tangible outcomes, with the foundation for continued progress resting on equal standing between both sides, genuine respect, and cooperation structured around shared benefit. Ties between China and Israel — formal diplomatic links now stretching back 35 years, alongside a decade-long innovative comprehensive partnership — are set to reach twin milestones in the coming year, he observed.
Wang conveyed that the upcoming anniversaries offered both nations a platform to reflect on shared history, deepen practical ties, and build broader public backing for the relationship going forward.
Advancing peace and reconciliation across the region forms the bedrock of what Beijing describes as its approach to Middle East affairs, Wang stated. Beijing has repeatedly put forward the position that the Palestinian issue represents a profound unresolved injustice and that establishing two separate states offers the appropriate path toward a resolution.
Wang described the area as still unsettled, noting that conditions for lasting calm had not yet been established, and identified unrestricted entry into the Gaza Strip as the most pressing matter at hand. He called on Israel to put an end to settlement expansion in the West Bank and urged that the approximately two million residents of the territory be afforded conditions beyond bare subsistence, while also pressing for action to contain the ongoing humanitarian situation there.
Beijing's envoy highlighted that, over the course of the current year, a range of peace and security proposals for the Middle East had been put forward by President Xi Jinping — contributions that China characterises as offerings to both the region and the broader international community. Wang conveyed that a readiness exists to partner with the broader international community in advancing a framework built on shared, wide-ranging, cooperative, and lasting security principles, while urging all parties to move toward dialogue and negotiation at the earliest opportunity and to pursue diplomatic resolutions to ongoing conflicts.
Wang noted that during his time as Israel's president, Chaim Herzog — whose son Isaac Herzog now holds that office — worked to lay the groundwork for diplomatic relations between Israel and China, and became the first person in that presidential role to make an official visit to Beijing. In his memoir, Herzog the elder put forward the view that negotiating and reaching accommodation need not mean surrendering ground, and that such processes can, over time, build durable trust between parties. Wang described those words as holding continued applicability to the situation at hand.
Wang conveyed that unresolved statehood for Palestinians sits at the heart of tensions across the region, while also affirming that both peoples — Jewish and Palestinian — hold an equal entitlement to security and self-governing nationhood. Wang conveyed that a lasting peace — one long sought by people across the region — hinges on all sides holding firm to their commitment, drawing closer to one another through dialogue, and keeping the two-state solution as the guiding framework for any resolution.
