China on Wednesday condemned the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the slain political chief of resistance group Hamas, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We firmly oppose and condemn any assassination and violent act and we are deeply concerned about the potential increase in regional instability due to this incident,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran.

Beijing is “closely monitoring the situation,” Lin added, according to Chinese state media.