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"China advocates equal attention to the security concerns and legitimate rights of both Israel and Palestine，" China's permanent representative to the UN Zhang Jun said Wednesday as he rebutted Israel at the UN Security Council (UNSC). This was after Israel had slammed China and Russia for having vetoed a UNSC draft resolution regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Contrary to the allegation that China is "indifferent" to violence against civilians, China's use of veto demonstrates it is acting responsibly in the Gaza conflict.

First and foremost, the UNSC resolution, sponsored by the U.S., did not reflect the world's calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. The ongoing conflicts are two-way round – Hamas' attacks on Israelis and Israel's bombings of Palestinians. At this moment, the top priority is to cease fire and avoid humanitarian disasters. Just as Zhang stressed, "Ceasefire is not just a diplomatic term. It means the life and death of many civilians."

However, the U.S.-backed resolution contains no clear terms on an immediate ceasefire. Instead, it focused on Israel's "right of self-defense." It is worth noting that the initial U.S. text did not even include a call for humanitarian pauses. Rather, it blatantly stated Israel "has a right to defend itself" and demanded Iran, a country the U.S. has long deemed as an enemy, stop exporting arms to the military groups, according to Reuters. This means the resolution – if adopted – would pave the way for large-scale military actions and escalate the ongoing conflicts that have already killed thousands of people.

Despite the world's strong calls for opening humanitarian corridors, Washington is calculating how to manipulate the UNSC for maximized political interests. In the guise of "humanitarian" considerations, the U.S., by introducing the resolution, attempts to establish a new narrative on the Palestine question. When tens of thousands of innocent civilians are suffering in Gaza, the U.S. is taking advantage of the UN body to push its political agenda – reaffirming Israel's "right to self-defense" in Gaza and deterring Iran from playing a role in regional affairs.

To help Gaza, the root cause of the ongoing conflicts cannot be evaded. "It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said earlier. The occupation of the Palestinian territory is the fundamental cause of the decades-long conflicts between Palestine and Israel. The U.S.-sponsored resolution, granting Israel's "right to self-defense," will only make the matter worse.

"What we oppose is that the draft resolution selectively avoids referring to the root causes of the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and fails to urge Israel to lift its full siege on Gaza and to rescind the evacuation order for northern Gaza," Zhang said in an explanation of China's vote, adding that an evasive and ineffectual approach "will only accelerate Gaza's falling into an even greater humanitarian catastrophe."

Unlike the U.S. which has repeatedly played a proxy role for Israel, China has no selfish interests on the Palestine question. Vetoing draft resolution, China is not denying Israel's security concerns. The country advocates legitimate rights of both Israel and Palestine.

China's veto of the draft resolution is, by no means, showing indifference to the sufferings of people in Gaza. Since the outbreak of the latest round of conflicts, China has strongly called for secured humanitarian access to the region. China International Development Cooperation Agency, for instance, announced on Thursday that the country will provide another 15 million yuan ($2.05 million) in emergency humanitarian supplies, including food and medicine, to the Gaza Strip.

China firmly supports any initiative that contributes to regional peace and has actively urged the UNSC to take responsible actions based on facts and history to end the conflicts. Instead of adding fuel to the Gaza conflicts, the UNSC is highly anticipated to take right direction. An immediate ceasefire and a two-state solution, which advocates equal attention to Palestine's and Israel's security concerns, is the right way forward.

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