China–Israel relations

Sino-Israeli relations

Israel	China

China-Israel relations are diplomatic, economic cultural ties between the People's Republic of China and the State of Israel. Israel was the first country in the Middle East to recognize the PRC as the legitimate government of China. However, China did not establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel until 1992. Since then, Israel and China have developed increasingly close commercial, military and strategic links.Israel maintains an embassy in Beijing and is planning to open a new consulate in Chengdu, its third in mainland China.

History

Chinese navy docks in Israel

For some time after the 1949 Chinese revolution, the People's Republic of China was diplomatically isolated, because the United States and its allies (including Israel) recognized the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) as the legitimate government of China. During the 1955 Asian–African Conference, China expressed support for the Palestinian right of return, but refrained from denying Israel's right to exist and secretly pursued trade ties with the Israelis. Until the 1980s, China refused to grant visas to Israelis unless they held dual citizenship and carried a passport of a country other than Israel. However, following the Sino-Soviet split and China's 1979 establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, China began to develop a series of secret, non-official ties with Israel.

China and Israel secretly began building military ties in the 1980s during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which both Israel and China opposed. They both supplied weapons to the Afghan mujahideen (Israel sending captured PLO weapons via the United States and Pakistan), and military cooperation between the two began in order to assist the Islamic resistance against the Soviets. China and Israel subsequently started exchanging visits of delegations of academicians, experts, businessmen and industrialists. Reportedly, a large number of the heavy tanks used in China's 1984 National Day parades were retrofitted by Israel from captured Six-Day War equipment. China eased travel restrictions, while Israel reopened its consulate in Hong Kong (then under British administration), which would serve as the main point for diplomatic and economic contact between the two nations. In 1987 Israel’s Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, appointed Amos Yudan to set up the first official Government owned company (Copeco Ltd) to establish and foster commercial activities between companies in China and Israel. The company was active till 1992, when official diplomatic relationships were announced between Israel and China. In the early 1990s, China joined a number of nations who established ties with Israel after the initiation of a peace process between Israel and the PLO in the early 1990s; it also desired to play a role in the peace process.

Development of contemporary bilateral relations

Benjamin Netanyahu and Matan Vilnai in China

In November 1991, the Defense Minister of Israel Moshe Arens was reported to have paid a secret visit to China and believed to have negotiated the establishment of ties and expansion of military cooperation. On January 23, 1992, the Foreign Minister of Israel David Levy paid a four-day visit to Beijing, preceding the formal establishment of ties. Both nations had maintained some trade links, which stood at USD 30 million in 1992. Since then, the annual growth in trade has averaged 40%. Bilateral trade rose to USD 3 billion in 2005 and is projected to rise to USD 5 billion by 2008 and USD 10 billion by 2010. China is Israel's largest Asian trading partner and has sought Israel's expertise in solar energy, manufacturing robotics, irrigation, construction, agricultural and water management and desalination technologies to combat drought and water shortages. In turn, Israel has imported high-tech products and manufactured goods from China. There are more than 1,000 Israeli firms operating in China as of 2010. In particular, Chinese firms play an essential role in the $10-billion kosher foods industry, with 500 factories across China producing kosher food for the American and Israeli markets.

In 2007, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a high-profile visit to China to bolster trade and military cooperation and seek China's support over the conflict over Iran's nuclear proliferation. In June 2012, Olmert's successor, Binyamin Netanyahu, was expected to visit China to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations; however, this visit was ultimately cancelled.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang made a historic trip to the Middle East in December 2013 to visit Israel and the Palestinian National Authority. He discussed with leaders of both countries the importance of the nuclear agreement with Iran and the importance of the continued peace talks, saying "War does not solve the problems. Violence increases the hatred. The peace talks are the appropriate and the only path."

Despite the increasingly close relationship between the two countries, China also continues to maintain increasingly strong relations with Palestine, the Arab World and the Muslim World. With respect to such bilateral predicaments, China and Israel remain divided over the issue of Palestine, whose bid for independent statehood and United Nations membership was supported by China in 1988, voted in 1998 to give Palestine more rights at the UN despite the opposition by both Israel and the United States, and again voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 67/19 further upgrading Palestine to non-member observer state status in the United Nations in 2012. Israel has also become the largest supplier to military technology to India, China's primary geopolitical rival in Asia.

Military cooperation

Haifa base commander Brig. Gen. Eli Sharvit welcomes RADM Yang Jun-Fei to Israel

Israel and China began extensive military cooperation as early as the 1980s, even though no formal diplomatic relations existed. Some estimate that Israel sold arms worth US$4 billion to China in this period. China has looked to Israel for the arms and technology it wants but cannot acquire from either the United States or Russia. Israel has now become China's second-largest foreign supplier of arms (following Russia). China has purchased a wide array of military equipment and technology, including communications satellites. The building of military cooperation and trade has softened China's historic anti-Israeli policy over Palestine and Middle East issues. China has become a vital market for Israel's extensive military industries and arms manufacturers. Israel has also limited its cooperation with the Republic of China (Taiwan) in order to foster closer ties with the People's Republic of China.

The US Defense Intelligence Agency compiled evidence that Israel had transferred missile, laser and aircraft technology to China in the 1990s. Israel was set to sell China the Phalcon, an airborne early-warning radar system, until it was forced by the United States to cancel the deal.

On 19 October 1999, the Defence Minister of China, Chi Haotian, flew to Israel and met with Ehud Barak, the then-Prime Minister and Defence Minister of Israel. The two men discussed military relations and made several high-level arrangements, including a $1 billion Israeli-Russian sale of military aircraft to China. On 25 May 2011, the Commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, Admiral Wu Shengli, made an official visit to Israel, meeting with Barak and Rear Admiral Eliezer Marom.

On 14 August 2011, General Chen Bingde, Chief of the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department, arrived for an official visit to Israel, scheduled for three days. He came a guest of the Israeli Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, who received him with an honor guard at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. The visit came after Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s visit to China in June, the first visit of a defense minister to the country in a decade. Bingde’s visit was part of a tour that included stops in Russia and Ukraine.

On 13 August 2012, vessels from the PLA Navy's 11th escort fleet, led by Rear Admiral Yang Jun-fei, anchored at Israel's Haifa naval base for a four-day goodwill visit to mark 20 years of cooperation between the Israel Defense Forces and the PLA. The vessels and crewmen were welcomed by the Haifa base commander, Brigadier General Eli Sharvit, and Chinese embassy officials.

Economic cooperation

On 3 July 2011, Israel and the People's Republic of China entered into an economic cooperation agreement that aimed to boost trade between the two countries. According to Eliran Elimelech, Israel’s commercial attaché in Beijing, the agreement was expected to deepen ties between Israeli and Chinese businessmen in the short term, and in the medium to long term to improve trade conditions between the countries. In January 2011, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics stated that Israeli exports to China had grown by an annual 95 percent in 2010 to $2 billion.

In September 2011, the Israeli Minister of Transport, Israel Katz, stated that China and Israel had entered negotiations regarding the construction of a high-speed rail link joining the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. This joint project would permit the mass overland transport of Chinese goods to Israel and Eastern Europe, and would involve both Chinese and Israeli railway developers. The following month, the Chinese and Israeli governments signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the joint construction of a 180-km (112-mile) railway linking the Israeli city of Eilat with the Negev Desert's Zin Valley, Beersheba, and Tel Aviv. In August 2012, with Sino-Israeli trade growing, the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing set up a department dedicated to studying Israeli economics and Judaism, while some Chinese universities began offering Hebrew courses.

Since 2013, Chinese investors have begun to show a growing interest in Israeli firms.

Criticism and controversies

Israel's increasing defense cooperation with China has caused concern in Western nations, particularly the United States, which is the largest foreign supplier of military equipment to Israel. Owing to strategic rivalry against Chinese rivals in Asia such as Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, India, and Vietnam and concerns over the security of Taiwan, a major ally to the United States. The United States has pressured Israel against selling sophisticated equipment and technology to China. In 1992, the Washington Times alleged that exported American Patriot missiles and Israel's indigenous Lavi jet aircraft technology had been shared with China, although official U.S. investigations did not substantiate these charges. In 2000, Israel cancelled the sale to China of the Israeli-built Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) in the wake of pressure from the U.S., which threatened to cut off US$2.8 billion in yearly aid if the deal went through. Israel's decision drew condemnation from China, which stated that the cancellation would hurt bilateral ties. China’s record of proliferating arms and weapons systems has also concerned U.S. planners, as the U.S. worries that China may repackage advanced Israeli defense technologies for resale to America’s rivals and nations hostile to it throughout the world.

Despite close relations between the two nations, China and Israel continued to remain divided on the issue of Palestine, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, economic blockade of Gaza, and the Israeli security fence. China has been a harsh critic of Israel and has regularly criticized Israel's controversial construction of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. China’s Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing regarded the Israeli security fence as an obstacle to peace and called on Israel to “dismantle the separation wall” when voicing these concerns in a September 2006 statement during a UN Security Council meeting on the Middle East consolidating reports by the 2004 advisory opinion by the ICC deeming the security to be illegal. Further criticism was made in November 2008, Ambassador Yesui further stated that the “continued construction of settlements by Israel on the West Bank is not only in violation of Israel's obligations under international law, but is also detrimental to guaranteeing Israel's own security.”

After the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian elections in Gaza, China does not designate Hamas to be a terrorist organization and acknowledges Hamas to be the legitimately elected political entity in the Gaza Strip that represents the Palestinian people despite Israeli and U.S. opposition. The Chinese government also invitingly met with senior Hamas representative Mahmoud al-Zahar, who previously served as Palestinian foreign minister, during the June 2006 China-Arab Cooperation Forum in Beijing which held direct bilateral talks despite protests against the meeting from Israel and the United States. In addition, during the same month, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry further elucidated Beijing’s stance regarding Hamas in spite of U.S. and Israeli opposition to China’s associations with the organization stating that “We believe that the Palestinian government is legally elected by the people there and it should be respected."

In 2010, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1929, imposing a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for its nuclear enrichment program. China ultimately supported this resolution, although initially, due to the strong bilateral relations and nuclear cooperation between the China and Iran, China opposed the sanctions. According to the New York Times, Israel lobbied for the sanctions by explaining to China the impact of any pre-emptive strike on Iran would have on the world oil supply, and hence on the Chinese economy.

After the May 31, 2010 Gaza flotilla raid the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu strongly condemned Israel and urged Israel to seriously implement the UN Security Council resolutions and to improve the situation in the Gaza Strip by lifting the blockade. On April 28, 2011 after the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal to form a national unity government ahead of the national elections, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that China welcomes Palestine's internal reconciliation and hoped that it would enhance unity and cooperation among all the parties in Palestine. During the November 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China told reporters in a news conference that China expressed "concern" to the clashes and urge all sides, particularly Israel, to display restraint and avoid civilian casualties. On November 29, 2012, China sided with Palestine and voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 67/19 Palestine to non-member observer state status in the United Nations.

According to a 2013 Pew Research Centre Poll, 38% of Israelis view China as having a positive influence with large majorities in Israel (60%) who hold negative views of China and frustration with Chinese unilateralism in international affairs.

See also

• A Jewish Girl in Shanghai, a 2010 Chinese animated film
• Kaifeng Jews
• Chinese people in Israel
• Dates of establishment of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China
• History of the Jews in China
• International recognition of Israel
• Israelis in China
• China–Palestine relations