China has come to realize that its strategic competition with the United States will not disappear; it will merely assume a change in form in response to the style and policy of the new American president. Therefore, Beijing believes it must shape its relations with the US so as contain the damage. China is emerging from the Donald Trump era with a decision to develop advanced technologies independently, above all, semiconductor industry, in order to avoid dependence on the United States. Along with the major disputes between the...
In September 2020 the fifth generation communications network (5G) was launched in Israel based on Western infrastructures, with no Chinese infrastructure. With that development, Israel effectively joined the United States Clean Network program. A Chinese initiative, launched in response to the US program, shows that there are signs in the international system of a trend toward technological decoupling, which is expected to have strategic consequences – political, economic, and technological. Israel would do well to identify the...
China responded coolly to the normalization agreements between Israel and the Gulf states, due to its concerns that these accords, sponsored by the United States, derived inter alia from the United States’ intention to damage China’s relations with friendly countries in the Middle East and create alliances against China. Against a background of Chinese-American tensions, there are a number of signs of cool winds blowing from China toward Israel, such as the delay in appointing a new ambassador to Israel, and the lack of contact...
The latest annual report by the Pentagon on China’s military development, submitted to Congress in early September 2020, states that China is planning to double the number of its estimated 200 nuclear warheads in the coming decade, and to modernize its nuclear forces. The number of Chinese nuclear weapons is very small in comparison with the United States arsenal, which has some 5,800 nuclear warheads. This gap has sparked calls in China to strengthen its nuclear capability and reach 1,000 nuclear warheads as soon as possible....
In recent years, as China has grown stronger, the regime in Beijing has pursued a policy of punitive reprisals against countries that harm Chinese interests, sometimes due to activity related to the close ties of those countries with the United States. The punitive measures are aimed at the “soft underbelly” of trade in order to strike at a central manufacturing sector and delineate China’s red lines. This policy was put into practice against Norway, South Korea, Canada, Australia, and others. Will China take similar...
The State Comptroller recently criticized the way Israel operates regarding foreign involvement in national infrastructure. He said that the lack of mandatory consulting by regulators with the advisory committee could lead them to prioritize economic considerations over considerations of national security. The need to implement the State Comptroller’s recommendations intensifies as the rivalry between China and the United States heats up, and the US administration exerts pressure on allies to establish or strengthen investment...
In August 2020 President Trump signed an order banning US companies from conducting transactions with the companies ByteDance and Tencent, the owners of the popular apps TikTok and WeChat, respectively. This is a further step in the deepening struggle between the United States and China, which for the first time is spilling into the field of apps; until now the US administration has refrained from intervening in this area. Israel must review its stance in light of the Clean Network program, launched by the US as part of a Western...
If Joe Biden is elected President in November, what will be his administration’s approach vis-à-vis China? And how might it affect Israel’s ability to navigate the tension between the two great powers? The Democratic Party platform for 2020 provides an insight into these questions. The platform’s language suggests that notwithstanding transition, Washington will continue the current tough stance on Beijing. At the same time, the Democrats vow to take a more nuanced and multilateral approach, taking into consideration not only US...
A facility for the extraction of yellowcake from uranium ore has been detected in Saudi Arabia. The facility, which has been in place for some time, was constructed in cooperation with two Chinese companies. The report comes on top of a number of discoveries indicative of an effort by Saudi Arabia, apparently in the early stages, to test elements of the nuclear fuel cycle, as well as closer cooperation between Saudi Arabia and China. The nuclear agreement with Iran (JCPOA) did not lessen Saudi Arabia’s motivation to acquire...
In January 2020, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) hosted its 13th Annual International Conference. Entitled “Strategic Assessment for Israel: A Look at the Coming Decade,” the conference included discussions, simulations, and lectures on strategic issues important to Israel’s national security. The conference was attended by decision makers, opinion leaders, and leading researchers from Israel and abroad. We invite you to read the digital version of the booklet that summarizes the conference...
On July 11, 2020, the New York Times published the draft of a 25-year strategic agreement between Iran and China leaked by sources in Tehran, to the dismay of Beijing. According to the draft, China will receive priority in billions of dollars of infrastructure investments in Iran, and a regular supply of oil and gas at a substantial discount, while military cooperation between the two countries will increase. It is believed that Iran has been working on this agreement since Xi Jinping’s 2016 visit to Iran. The Chinese are...
The involvement of foreign companies in strategic infrastructure in Israel is a complex economic-security issue that has recently been a subject of discussion between Israel and the United States. The regulation model for the Israeli electricity sector demonstrates how the influence of a single party on the country’s strategic infrastructure can be limited, be the party local or foreign. Decentralizing control and privatizing peripheral and operational infrastructure elements, while keeping the core of management and the other...
