Taiwan Gives Full Backing to Israel in Contrast with China

The lights of office windows in the Taiwanese capital's iconic skyscraper Taipei 101 were accompanied Wednesday night by the blue-and-white of the Israeli flag in a sign of solidarity. Taiwan's deputy minister of Foreign Affairs told Newsweek why.

Across the Taiwan Strait, however, China has so far avoided coming down on either side of the conflict.

On October 7, Hamas led the deadliest attack against Israel by Palestinian militants in history. Israel hit back with its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. As of Thursday, over 1,200 people had been killed in Israel, the Associated Press reported, citing the Israeli military. Meanwhile, at least 1,400 people had been killed in Gaza, according to authorities there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said his country is "at war" and has cut off supplies of food, fuel, electricity and medicine into Gaza. Israel has called up 360,000 army reservists as it prepares for a likely ground offensive into the territory, which has an estimated population of around 2.2 million.

The contrast between Taipei and Beijing's messaging on the ongoing conflictreflects the very different positions the two sides are seeking to eke out on the world stage.

The day Hamas militants launched their attack from Gaza, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a statement that dovetailed with the positions of the U.S., Taiwan's most important security provider, and other Western countries: "Taiwan strongly condemns the indiscriminate attacks against the Israelis carried out by Hamas. We stand in solidarity with Israel and denounce all forms of terrorism."

Taiwan condemns "any form of terrorist attack," the country's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang told Newsweek Thursday at the Yushan Forum being held in Taipei. He pointed out that Taiwan was one of the first countries to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year and send aid to Ukrainian refugees. Taiwan wants to be a "responsible stakeholder" in the global community, he said.

Meanwhile, Beijing has stopped short of singling out Hamas, instead continuing to appeal to both sides to "cease fire and protect civilians" and to return to a path toward the two-state solution.

"China's foreign policy under (President) Xi aims to appeal to the Global South for support to change the international order, from the U.S.-dominated liberal international order into a Sino-centric or at least China-friendly one," Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, SOAS University of London, told Newsweek.

On top of that, China rejects Western countries' use of "terrorist" and other negative labels for states and non-state actors. Tsang said that while its ties with Israel are generally positive, China considers Israel part of the West. So, China unsurprisingly tends to side with the Palestinians rather than condemn Hamas, Tsang added. On the other hand, "Taiwan identifies as part of the democratic world," so it sides with Israel against Hamas.

China's envoy to the Middle East said he had expressed to an Egyptian foreign ministry official on Tuesday that China was prepared to coordinate with Egypt and work toward a ceasefire. He said his country was prepared to contribute humanitarian relief to Palestinians.

Former White House National Security Council official Ivan Kanapathy, who was also in Taipei for the Yushan Forum on Thursday, told Newsweek that despite China's messaging on matters of principle or sovereignty, "it's always about pure, transactional self-interest, when push comes to shove." Acknowledging self-interest is an inherent part of foreign policy to some degree, he said it is much more so in non-democratic countries, where the leadership is not accountable to its people.

Update 10/13/23, 1:16 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.