China and the Question of Palestine

This event is co-presented by SFU's David Lam Centre.

On popular Arabic-language Shi’ite websites, one can find an amusing apocryphal narration about the first meeting between Ahmad al-Shuqayiri, the first Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and Mao Zedong, sometime in the mid-1960s. To the former’s plea asking “to be taught revolution,” the latter deflectively retorted “how could I teach you revolution, when you have the revolution of Imam Hussein [to emulate]?” Though undoubtedly a myth (and part of a fascinating hagiographic tradition in its own right), this short story inadvertently captures an enduring theme in the optics surrounding Sino-Palestinian relations: of high-hopes combined with limited (or even non-) delivery.

The talk explores the twists and turns of China’s official relationship with various Palestinian actors and its evolving approach towards the Palestine Question from the mid-twentieth century to the present. It also highlights the forces that feed into expectations of a larger Chinese role, and the realities (internal or regional) that circumscribe China's ability (and desire) to exert substantive influence in relation to the conflict.