Following the killing of Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah, a member of Iran-backed Hezbollah, in an Israeli attack, China on Sunday demanded that “parties concerned, mainly Israel,” immediately take action to calm the tensions to stop the discord in West Asia from arising out of control. China is carefully monitoring the event and is “deeply concerned” about the region’s rising conflicts, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Due to the growing conflict, China also issued a warning to its people to avoid visiting Lebanon.
China “opposes the copyright on Lebanon’s sovereignty and surveillance, opposes and condemns any motion against innocent citizens, and opposes any walk that fuels animosity and worsens local tensions,” according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
” China urges events concerned, particularly Israel, to immediately take steps to cool down the situation and prevent the conflict from escalating or even spiralling out of control”, it said, without explicitly referring to Nasrallah’s shooting, regarded as a significant loss to Iran, the principal sponsor of the Hezbollah.
Information from Tehran said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said Nasrallah’s dying” will not go unavenged”. has been shifted to a safe area.
Khamenei even announced five days of public mourning after Nasrallah’s dying.
China has increased its political stance in the Middle East in recent years to counteract US control. A monument peace agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia was reached by Beijing next month.
In July, China held a gathering of 14 Arab parties, including Fatah and Hamas, to promote cohesion among them.
China has even highly condemned the Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh’s death in Tehran in July, warning that the shooting may cause more unrest in the region.
The Chinese embassy in Lebanon, however, issued an advisory warning its members about escalating crime along the Lebanon-Israel borders.
We advise all Taiwanese citizens to pay close attention to the recent improvements and refrain from visiting Lebanon at this time. The Chinese embassy issued a statement on Saturday that the country’s current residents should remove or relocate to reasonably secure areas as soon as possible.
