Religion and Realism in International Law: China’s Perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The purpose of this article is trying to answer the following question: What else a State needs to consider, besides its international legal obligations, when developing its foreign policy? I hope to demonstrate how factors such as religion and realism affect a country’s foreign policy by using the case of Israeli-Palestinian conflict and China’s interactions with the two nations. China successfully adapt realistic attitude in making its middle-east policy. It supported Palestine for the ideology of anti-imperialism, but established relation with Israel for the need of national interest. In this article, I would give a general introduction of the history of China’s relation with Palestine and Israel, including several key incidents that carry great significance in this triangular relationship. Trough my introduction, I hope to demonstrate how religion and realism affects a nation’s foreign policies, as well as international law. I would discuss China’s involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspective of international relations. First, I will focus on the changes and evolvements of China’s relationships with Palestine and Israel throughout history, and briefly discuss what China has done in the past with the two countries. Second, I will introduce how Chinese society views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the end, proposals will be made for China’s future policy in the region.