In response to the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, China has taken decisive action to extract more than 1,600 Chinese citizens from Iran and several hundred more from Israel. This was confirmed by a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry on Thursday. The intensifying conflict has led to a significant increase in border congestion as evacuees are attempting to leave the area.
The spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, revealed that evacuation efforts are ongoing, and China is actively communicating with Iran, Israel, Egypt, and Oman. Guo emphasized the urgent need for measures to de-escalate the situation and called for an immediate cease-fire, particularly from Israel.
The conflict between the two countries has shown no signs of abating. On Thursday, Israel targeted an essential Iranian nuclear site, while Iranian missiles struck an Israeli hospital. This marks nearly a week since Israel initiated what it termed ‘pre-emptive strikes’ against Iran.
In the face of these escalating tensions, the Chinese embassy in Iran has reiterated its advice for Chinese citizens to evacuate the country via land routes. However, this has led to longer immigration processing times due to congestion at two key border checkpoints, Astara leading into Azerbaijan and Bajgiran leading into Turkmenistan, situated 490km and 910km from Tehran respectively.
The embassy has also recommended that Chinese citizens can exit Iran via alternative routes through Turkey, Armenia, and Iraq.
Meanwhile, China’s embassy in Israel announced on Thursday that it will commence evacuating its citizens in batches from Friday onwards. The plan is to transport willing evacuees to the Taba Border Crossing into Egypt by bus. The crossing point is approximately 360 km from Tel Aviv.
These developments raise several questions: How will the escalating conflict affect the safety of Chinese nationals in the region? What steps are being taken to ensure the smooth evacuation process, and how are the governments of Iran and Israel responding to these evacuation efforts? A closer look into these matters is crucial to understand the full impact of the conflict on foreign nationals in the region.
