--- title: "China Tells Herzog in Baku to Stop and Reverse West Bank Settlements" description: "Wang Yi called the Palestinian question this century’s “greatest historical injustice” in a meeting China wrote up and Israel didn’t" author: "Nate Ledger" published: 2026-10-16T02:56:21Z modified: 2026-10-16T04:28:38Z url: https://rews.cc/a/china-tells-herzog-in-baku-to-stop-and-reverse-west-bank-set-7b5541 language: en tags: ["israel", "palestine", "settlements", "iran", "diplomacy", "mideast", "world"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # China Tells Herzog in Baku to Stop and Reverse West Bank Settlements *Wang Yi called the Palestinian question this century’s “greatest historical injustice” in a meeting China wrote up and Israel didn’t* By Nate Ledger · October 16, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/china-tells-herzog-in-baku-to-stop-and-reverse-west-bank-set-7b5541 ## In brief - Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Baku, Azerbaijan, on October 15 - China’s foreign ministry said Wang told Israel to stop and reverse its “forced establishment” of West Bank settlements - Wang called the Palestinian question “the greatest historical injustice of this century” - He backed a two-state solution and urged full humanitarian access to Gaza - China’s readout reported no response from Herzog China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, met Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, in Azerbaijan this week. He told Herzog that Israel should stop its “forced establishment” of settlements in the West Bank, and also reverse it. That is according to the Chinese foreign ministry’s own account of the meeting, issued on Friday and [reported by Al Jazeera](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/16/china-tells-israel-to-stop-forced-establishment-of-west-bank-settlements). The ministry said Wang told Herzog that China has consistently regarded the Palestinian question as “the greatest historical injustice of this century.” The setting was the Seventh Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, in Baku, which Wang attended as President Xi Jinping’s special representative, according to the state news agency Xinhua. The meeting took place on the sidelines on October 15, according to the [China-Global South Project](https://chinaglobalsouth.com/2026/10/16/china-israel-west-bank-settlements-wang-yi/). A forum with “confidence-building” in its name is a reasonable place to tell someone their country is committing this century’s greatest historical injustice. Building confidence works both ways. ![A suited hand peels a miniature rural landscape from a conference table beside a Chinese flag, with an empty office chair opposite.](https://rews.cc/img/da9ddd38d2db4c715a3e603a93784a8630e146df.webp) It helps to know what a readout is. When two officials meet, each government can publish its own summary, and each summary is really a press release about what that government would like the world to think was said. China’s version has Wang doing the talking. It reports nothing Herzog said back, and the Israeli side’s account, if there is one, wasn’t in the coverage. So what we have is a Chinese document recording that China told Israel something. That still counts for something. Choosing what to put in the official record is the whole point of a readout, and Beijing chose to write “stop and reverse.” Look at the phrasing too. “Forced establishment” is not the usual diplomatic wording. Governments mostly talk about settlement “expansion” or “activity,” which suggests that the trouble lies at the margin and that the fix is to stop adding more. “Forced establishment” says the trouble is in how the settlements began. “Reverse” goes past a freeze and asks Israel to undo what it has already built. Of course you can ask for anything when nobody is going to hold you to it, but it is more than most capitals put in writing. ![A giant pink eraser crushes miniature stone houses with terracotta roofs, leaving rubble and a pale trail across a green surface beneath a red circle.](https://rews.cc/img/9f495f8d8465366ec708a2465f54896e89c23729.webp) The rest of the readout was more standard. Wang called the “two-state solution” the correct route. He said the most urgent task was opening up full access to the Gaza Strip so that a humanitarian “catastrophe” does not spread. He called promoting peace and reconciliation the “cornerstone” of China’s Middle East policy, and said China would work with other countries to get every party back to dialogue as soon as possible and toward a political settlement, as [Reuters reported, carried by Internazionale](https://www.internazionale.it/ultime-notizie-reuters/2026/10/16/china-says-israel-should-stop-its-forced-establishment-of-west-bank-settlements). ## Everyone’s trading partner The obvious question is what China means by a cornerstone, since its position in the region is mostly about having good relations with everyone. According to Al Jazeera, China has been Iran’s largest trading partner and has bought up to 90 percent of its oil, and in 2021 the two countries signed a 25-year strategic partnership. Beijing has also moved closer to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. It is a major trade partner of the United States and of Israel. If you want all of those countries buying your goods, you don’t get many chances to make a firm commitment, but you get lots of chances to make firm statements. Statements are cheap, and they are the one thing China can hand out to everyone at the same time. ![A red shipping container with a Chinese flag stands among oil barrels and cardboard boxes, while branching paper speech bubbles rise above it.](https://rews.cc/img/a3cb836553fc7836b2286a032aa4173da8b34b30.webp) The statements have been piling up. In March, China condemned the US and Israeli strikes on Iran and demanded that they stop at once. Once that war had begun, Wang told Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar that the attack came just as talks between Washington and Tehran had “made significant progress, including addressing Israel’s security concerns.” In September Xi went to Cairo, his first visit in a decade. There he urged Middle Eastern states to resist outside influence and rethink how the region’s security is arranged, and he and Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for “diplomatic solutions” to the war on Iran. The Baku remarks fit that pattern: China presents itself as the great power that wants a new regional order, without yet saying what it will contribute to one. There is also a small question about the audience. Israel’s presidency is a largely ceremonial office, and settlement policy comes from the government. A president can pass a message on. He doesn’t approve housing tenders. Meanwhile the people who do run that policy have been heading the other way: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich [has called for doing in the West Bank what Israel did in Gaza](https://rews.cc/a/do-in-the-west-bank-what-we-did-in-gaza-smotrich-calls-for-w-94451f). Other governments have found that measures cost more than words. When the Netherlands banned settlement goods, Israel [stripped Dutch diplomats of their status in Ramallah](https://rews.cc/a/israel-strips-dutch-diplomats-of-their-status-in-ramallah-ov-0b9cda). China, for now, has put out a statement. [Arab News](https://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/china-tells-israel-to-stop-its-forced-establishment-of-west-bank-settlements-3006640) and others ran the headline, and nobody’s diplomats had to pack.