Bill: Just a short note to observe that China's foreign policy vis-a-vis Israel and Palestine (and more generally the Arab- and Muslim-majority states in West Asia and North Africa) is working a treat. It certainly comes across as reasonable to claim that the best solution is one that addresses the concerns of all aggrieved parties (whatever they call it, that's what China's support for the Two State solution appears to be intended to do).

All the nuance and truth in the world (for example, about what really led to all those deaths at that hospital in the north of Gaza) doesn't seem to matter.

That Putin and company should be on board is also not surprising, given their relationship with Iran and their own (self-inflicted) disadvantage in Ukraine (and with most Europeans more generally).

The question I have is this:

Will this work for China "in the long term"?

My hope is that it won't, mainly because talk is cheap and China hasn't put much more on offer (aside, of course, from support for oil and gas exporters and "Global South" member states at the UN). Or maybe I'm wrong even in that.

My fear is that it will.