Can China broker peace between Israel and Palestine?

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

China wants to broker peace talks between Israel and Palestine as Beijing steps up its attempts to position itself as a global peacemaker. Chinese Foreign Minister Qín Gāng 秦刚 encouraged both sides to “take steps to resume peace talks” and said that “China is ready to provide convenience for this,” during a phone call with his Israeli counterpart, Eli Cohen. He later expressed similar sentiments in a separate call with Palestinian foreign minister Riyad Al-Maliki.

The man often thought of as Xi’s brain, Wáng Hùníng 王沪宁, attended a seminar held yesterday by the United Front, according to a front-page article on the Party paper, the People’s Daily. The United Front is the name of a Chinese Communist Party strategy and an organization that seeks to influence both domestic and global actors who are not Party members.

Wang talked up the “powerful role of the United Front as the Party’s magic weapon,” and said that the “‘Two Establishments’ are major political achievements.” The “Two Establishments” is a new slogan establishing Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 as China’s “core” leader, and Xi Jinping Thought as official doctrine.

Bangladesh is settling stalled payments with Russia in Chinese yuan, in a move that circumvents the U.S. and European sanctions that have frozen Russia out of the international banking system over its war in Ukraine. Last week, Dhaka and Moscow agreed to settle the $110 million in repayments for a nuclear power plant in yuan, rather than the U.S dollar, as China seeks to expand its currency clout to rival the global dominance of the dollar.

China’s GDP grew 4.5% from January to March, beating estimates and outpacing the 2.9% growth in the previous quarter, according to government data released today. The better-than-expected economic growth was led by a boost in the consumption and services sectors after three years of COVID-zero curbs. But signs of lingering financial pressure on households and other markers of economic strain may mean the recovery of the world’s second-largest economy is not sustainable.

Chinese exports of new energy products boomed in the first quarter of 2023, with photovoltaics, battery, and electric vehicle tech, known as the “new three types” 新三样, leading the way. New data showed that the combined export value of these three kinds of products hit 264.7 billion yuan ($38.5 billion) last quarter, up nearly 67% year-on-year.

Beijing denied U.S. claims of a Chinese “secret police station” in New York, after the FBI arrested two of the city’s residents for allegedly operating such a “transnational repression” scheme in Manhattan’s Chinatown district. “China maintains a policy of non-interference in other countries and these alleged police stations do not exist,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wāng Wénbīn 汪文斌 said.