The Chinese military on Thursday asserted that it has never supplied any weapons to conflict areas and always adopted a "responsible attitude" to defence exports as it rejected allegations of China providing arms to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in its ongoing conflict against Israel.

Earlier this month, quoting the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), The Telegraph newspaper reported that it discovered a “massive” stockpile of Chinese-made weapons being used by Hamas.

According to the IDF’s investigation, Hamas possessed advanced weapons and equipment made in China, such as cartridges and rifle sights for M16 assault rifles, automatic grenade launchers and communications devices, a report in the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post said.

Asked about the IDF investigation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sr Col Wu Qian told a media conference here that China has never supplied any weapons or equipment to conflict areas.

Wu said that China has always adopted a "cautious and responsible attitude" to military exports, strictly adhering to three principles in its arms export policy.

These principles are contributing to the legitimate self-defence capabilities of the recipient country, not impairing peace, security, and stability in the relevant regions and the world, and not interfering in the internal affairs of the recipient country, he said.

Wu said since the outbreak of the Palestine-Israel conflict, China has provided Palestine with emergency assistance, including food and medical aid.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.