Israel was the first player in the Middle East to recognize the People's Republic of China and vote in favor of China's membership in the United Nations in 1971. Following that, China and Israel opened their embassies and sent diplomatic missions in 1992. (Photo quoted from Yahoo’s image)
China and Israel are different in many ways. Israel has a close friendship with the United States which is China’s most important global rival. China also has ties with Iran and is trying to enjoy political growth in the international system as well. However, the relationship between the two actors in various fields, including economic, trade, political, military, security, cultural, and scientific relations, is growing and expanding.
In recent years, the two sides have enhanced their trade, investment, education, and military relations. Israel is smaller than many Middle Eastern countries, but China and Israel have been able to deepen ties beyond their differences.
China has abandoned its ideological ideas and sought to establish a neutral position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In developing relations, China has realized that developing relations with Israel will not have a negative impact on its relations with the Arab countries in the region, so it has strengthened relations with Israel, while balancing relations with the Arabs and supporting Arab countries.
On the other hand, statistics show that China will be the top world power in the next two decades, and one of the principles of Israeli foreign policy is to expand relations with the great powers. Therefore, the relationship with China as the great power of Asia is one of the important priorities.
In addition, the relatively extensive military relations between China and Israel are in a situation where the Chinese government is trying to compensate for its technological weakness in the military field compared to the United States by expanding relations with Israel to some extent.
In other words, China considers Israeli military technology as part of the US military industry, and in this regard, it seeks to expand its military industry by acquiring this technology and the relationships between technology institutes and research centers.
Expanding economic ties are also important, especially for Israel. Tel Aviv can benefit from China's large market. Israel appears to be a major trading partner of China in the field of military and defense equipment.
In fact, turning a blind eye to geopolitical differences has had far-reaching consequences for Israel and China. The value of trade between the two countries has increased from about $ 1 billion at the end of the century to just over $ 11.2 billion in 2019. Since the economies of Israel and China have complemented each other for more than 20 year, the two sides have signed numerous economic agreements in areas such as various economic projects, agriculture, high-tech projects, startups, new technologies, the New Silk Road project, Ports and other Israeli infrastructure, etc., through which they have developed relations.
In recent years, China's direct and indirect investment in Israel has risen sharply to billions of dollars. In addition, Israel is keen on China's huge market and taking advantage of Beijing's desire to attract large amounts of capital. Also, China sees Israel as another axis of its own belt and road initiative.
Farzad Ramezani Bonesh
Senior Researcher and Analyst of International Affairs
