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The United States has been working to strengthen defence cooperation with its allies in the Asia-Pacific region to counter China’s growing influence, but also wants to maintain lines of communication with Beijing to prevent tensions from spiraling out of control.

“The two officials discussed US-PRC defence relations and regional and global security issues,” the Pentagon said in a statement, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

“Secretary Austin emphasised the importance of continuing to open lines of military-to-military communication between the United States and the PRC” following talks between the two sides in recent months, the statement said.

Austin also “reiterated that the United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate — safely and responsibly — wherever international law allows,” and “underscored the importance of respect for high seas freedom of navigation guaranteed under international law, especially in the South China Sea”.

Austin’s last significant interaction with a Chinese counterpart occurred in November 2022 in Cambodia.

The United Nations Security Council will vote Thursday on the Palestinians’ application to become a full UN member state, several diplomatic sources have told AFP.

Amid Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, the Palestinians in early April revived a membership application first made to the world body in 2011, though the veto-wielding United States has repeatedly expressed opposition to the proposal.

The General Assembly can admit a new member state with a two-thirds majority vote, but only after the Security Council gives its recommendation.

Regional bloc the Arab Group issued a statement Tuesday affirming its “unwavering support” for the Palestinians’ application.

“Membership in the United Nations is a crucial step in the right direction towards a just and lasting resolution of the Palestinian question in line with international law and relevant UN resolutions,” the statement said.

Algeria, a non-permanent Security Council member, has drafted the resolution that “recommends” to the General Assembly “the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations.”

The vote on Thursday will coincide with a Security Council meeting scheduled several weeks ago to discuss the situation in Gaza, which ministers from several Arab countries are expected to attend.

The Palestinians — who have had observer status at the United Nations since 2012 — have lobbied for years to gain full membership.

“We are seeking admission. That is our natural and legal right,” Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, said in April.

According to the Palestinian side, 137 of the 193 UN member states already recognize a Palestinian state, raising hope that their request would be supported in the General Assembly.

But the Palestinian push for UN membership faces a major hurdle, as the United States — Israel’s closest ally — could use its veto power to block the Security Council recommendation.

“We call on all members of the Security Council to vote in favor of the draft resolution… At the very least, we implore Council members not to obstruct this critical initiative,” the Arab Group said Tuesday.

The United States has voiced its opposition to full Palestinian membership, saying it backed statehood but only after negotiations with Israel, while pointing to US laws that would require cuts to UN funding if such a move took place without a bilateral agreement.

“That is something that should be done through direct negotiations through the parties, something we are pursuing at this time, and not at the United Nations,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters in April.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan has strongly opposed the Palestinian membership bid, saying in mid-April the considerations were “already a victory for genocidal terror.”

“The Security Council is deliberating granting the perpetrators and supporters of October 7 full membership status in the UN,” Erdan said.

Hamas launched an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 33,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

JERUSALEM: Israel and Iran traded threats on Tuesday after Tehran’s first-ever direct attack on its arch-foe sharply heightened regional tensions as the Gaza war ground on with no truce in sight.

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Iran would not get off “scot-free” after Iran launched a barrage of over 300 missiles, drones and rockets at Israel at the weekend.

“We cannot stand still from this kind of aggression,” Hag­ari said, a day after Israel’s mil­itary chief vowed there would be “a response” to Iran’s offensive.

Iran said its attack was an act of self-defence following a deadly Israeli air strike on its consulate in Syria and that it would consider the matter “concluded” unless Israel retaliated.

Putin, Erdogan join list of world leaders calling for restraint; US warns of further sanctions on Tehran

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi warned that “the slightest action against Iran’s interests will definitely be met with a severe, extensive and painful response”.

Israel weighs options

Israel was weighing its options after the Iranian drone and missile onslaught, which caused little damage as Israeli defences intercepted most projectiles, helped by US, British and French forces, as well as regional allies.

It remained unclear when Israel might strike and whe­ther it would target Iran dir­e­ctly or attack its interests or allies abroad, including in Leb­anon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Israel made its first official comment on Monday on the strike that levelled a five-storey Iranian consulate building on April 1, killing seven Ira­nian Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.

“These were people who engaged in terrorism against the State of Israel,” Hagari said.

Calls for restraint

Meanwhile, world leaders have urged restraint and de-escalation.

During a phone call with Raisi, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on both sides to “show reasonable restraint and prevent a new round of confrontation,” the Kremlin said in a readout of the call.

He warned that further escalation in the Middle East could have “catastrophic consequences”.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Israel’s Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership are solely responsible for the recent escalation of tensions.

“Israel is trying to provoke a regional conflict, and its attack on Iran’s embassy in Damascus was the last drop,” he told a press conference in Ankara after a cabinet meeting.

He added that new regional conflicts were possible as long as the “cruelty and genocide” in Gaza continued, and called on all parties to act with common sense.

In a statement, Portugal’s foreign ministry also urged de-escalation in the Middle East.

A day ago, US President Joe Biden stressed that “the United States is committed to Israel’s security” and wants to prevent the conflict from spreading.

Washington, Israel’s top ally and arms supplier, has made clear it will not join Israel in any attack on their common adversary Iran, a senior US official said.

More sanctions

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called on 32 countries to impose sanctions on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and their missile programme.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who will head to Israel on Tuesday, urged the European Union to impose sanctions on Iranian drone technology.

“I campaigned in late autumn together with France and other partners within the European Union for this drone sanctions regime to be extended further,” she said, adding she also wanted it to cover “other missile technologies in Iran’s arsenal”.

“I hope that we can now finally take this step together.”

Also on Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned of further sanctions targeting Iran, saying she expects Washington will take added action “in the coming days.”

“I fully expect that we will take additional sanctions action against Iran in the coming days,” she said as this week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank began in Washington.

The Treasury, Ms Yellen said, will not hesitate to work with US allies to “use our sanctions authority to continue disrupting the Iranian regime’s malign and destabilizing activity.”

Turkey on Monday said Israel had blocked its attempt to airdrop aid to Gaza, and vowed to take a series of new measures against the country.

The Turkish airforce wanted to drop part of a humanitarian aid operation through its cargo planes.

“Today we learned that our request… was rejected by Israel. There is no excuse for Israel to block our attempt to airlift aid to starving Gazans,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

“We decided to take a series of new measures against Israel,” he said, adding that they would be publicised by the relevant institutions.

Fidan said Ankara’s reprisals approved by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a vocal advocate of the Palestinian cause, would be implemented “step by step” and “without any delay”.

“These measures will be in place until Israel declares a ceasefire and allows humanitarian aid to reach Gaza uninterruptedly,” the minister said.

Erdogan has become one of the harshest critics of Israel’s war in Gaza.

He has branded Israel a “terrorist state” and compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler while calling Hamas — considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union — “a liberation group”.

GAZA STRIP: Israel and Hamas both dampened hopes on Monday of a speedy breakthrough in Cairo talks towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal after Egyptian state-linked media had reported “significant progress”.

As the Gaza war raged on into a seventh month, Israel is under growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire, including from its top ally and arms supplier the United States.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Sunday — half a year after the October 7 attack — that Israel is “one step away from victory” and has vowed to defeat remaining Hamas fighters in Gaza’s far-southern Rafah city.

On the same day, however, the army also announced it had pulled its forces out of southern Gaza, although military commanders stressed the withdrawal was tactical and did not signal an end to the war.

Rafah operations

Israeli leaders were preparing on Monday for military operations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where most of the Palestinian territory’s population has fled after six months of fighting.

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the troops would “prepare for future missions, including … in Rafah” on the Egyptian border where almost 1.5 million Gazans live in crowded shelters and tents.

Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman said: “I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that we’ve moved soldiers in or out of anywhere. I’ll remind everyone that we’re living in a tiny country, we can move soldiers in or out very easily and very quickly.”

The United States said it still opposed a major Israeli assault on Rafah, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date for the attack was set. “We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians and that it would ultimately hurt Israel’s security,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters when asked about Netanyahu’s remarks.

“It’s not just a question of Israel presenting a plan to us. We have made clear to them that we think that there is a better way to achieve what is a legitimate goal, which is to degrade and dismantle and defeat the Hamas battalions that still remain in Rafah,” Miller said.

Witnesses said that more Israeli air strikes and artillery fire hit central Gaza, including near Gaza City and in Deir al-Balah, as well as in Rafah in the south.

Amid the threats and ongoing fighting, Netanyahu has sent negotiators to fresh truce talks that started in Cairo on Sunday, joined by US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

US President Joe Biden sent CIA chief Bill Burns to the talks, three days after a terse phone call with Netanyahu in which Biden demanded a halt to the fighting and greater steps to help and protect Gaza civilians.

Egypt’s state-linked news outlet Al-Qahera reported “significant progress being made on several contentious points of agreement”, citing an unnamed high-ranking Egyptian source.

The Qatari and Hamas delegations had left Cairo and were expected to return “within two days to finalise the terms of the agreement”, it said, while the US and Israeli teams were also planning 48 hours of consultations.

However, Israel’s Ynet news outlet cited an unidentified Israeli official as tempering the upbeat Egyptian report and stressing that “we still don’t see a deal on the horizon”.

“The distance is still great and there has been nothing dramatic in the meantime,” the Israeli official was quoted as saying by the Hebrew-language website.

A separate senior Israeli official was quoted by Ynet as saying that “patience is needed. There is potential, but we are not there yet.”

A Hamas official said on Monday no progress was made at a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks in Cairo. “There is no change in the position of the occupation and, therefore, there is nothing new in the Cairo talks,” the Hamas official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. “There is no progress yet.”

Another senior Hamas official told AFP that “we cannot speak of concrete progress so far”, with disagreement centred on the pace of displaced Palestinians returning to Gaza City.

Netanyahu also faced pushback from one of the far-right allies he needs to maintain a parliamentary majority and stay in power, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Ben Gvir warned on X, formerly Twitter, that “if the prime minister decides to end the war without an extensive attack on Rafah in order to defeat Hamas, he will not have a mandate to continue serving as prime minister”.

Lavrov arrived in China for a two-day official visit on Monday, with the two countries looking to deepen diplomatic ties as Russia’s war in Ukraine grinds on.

Russia and China have in recent years ramped up contacts, and their strategic partnership has only grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine.

Lavrov held discussions with President Xi Jinping on Tuesday afternoon, Chinese state media announced, in a previously undisclosed meeting.

State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of chairs arranged around a glossy table in an opulent room in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People ahead of the talks.

In earlier meetings on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promised: “China will support Russia’s stable development under the leadership of (Vladimir) Putin.

“Beijing and Moscow will continue to strengthen strategic cooperation on the world stage and provide each other with strong support,” Wang said, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

“Under the strong leadership of President Putin, the Russian people will have a bright future,” he said.

Lavrov, in turn, thanked China for its “support” after Putin’s recent re-election, in which he was unchallenged by any meaningful opposition.

“Xi Jinping […] was among the first ones to send congratulations to the president-elect Putin, and we are overall grateful to our Chinese friends for this support,” Lavrov said, according to a video of the meeting shared by Izvestia on Telegram.

“The election results confirmed the deep trust of the Russian people in our leader and the ongoing domestic and foreign policies,” he added, according to RIA Novosti.

“This applies not least to the course to strengthen strategic interaction and partnership with the PRC,” the top diplomat said, referring to China by its official acronym.

Lavrov last visited Beijing in October for an international forum on Chinese President Xi’s flagship Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Analysts say China holds the upper hand in the relationship with Russia, with its sway growing as Moscow’s international isolation deepens following its invasion of Ukraine.

That asymmetry is still “changing in China’s favour” as it enables Moscow “to continue the war by providing very necessary materials for the Russian war machine”, Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, told AFP.

“Integrating Russia’s economy, brainpower, and military technology into… a Chinese-led order with Eurasia at its geographic heart, is the only way Russia can sustain its confrontation with the West,” he wrote in Foreign Policy magazine this week.

“China has stronger bargaining power and many more options than does Russia, and its leverage over its northern neighbour is growing all the time,” he added. “Russia is now locking itself into vassalage to China.”

US officials have recently warned Beijing against providing indirect aid to the Russian war effort and regularly urge China to wield its influence to help bring about peace in Ukraine.

In Brussels last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that “China continues to provide materials to support Russia’s defence industrial base”.

And Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who wrapped up a visit to China on Monday, said she had warned officials of the consequences of supporting Russia’s military procurement.

But Lavrov on Tuesday drew a parallel between the West’s “unlawful sanctions” and efforts to curb China’s access to sensitive US-made technologies.

At a press conference following bilateral talks, he accused the West of seeking to impede China’s “economic, technological development opportunities, to put it simply in order to eliminate the competitors”.

Wang, in turn, declared that Russia and China “always stick to the correct path on great matters of principle”. “China and Russia must take a clear-cut stand on the side of historical progress, on the side of fairness and justice,” he said.

“(We must) oppose all acts of hegemony, tyranny and bullying; oppose Cold War thinking and separatist provocations; and actively push for the construction of a common future for all humankind,” he said.

“As a force for peace and stability, China will stick to playing a constructive role on the international stage […] and will never add oil to the flames,” he added.