The establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and China in 1992 did not prompt Israeli universities to change the classic course of their research, and new studies on China were not among their priorities. Despite this trend, Prof. Aron Shai, one of Israel’s veteran Sinologists, dedicated many books to the subject, including China and Israel: Chinese, Jews; Beijing, Jerusalem. As the founder of the East Asian Studies Department at Tel Aviv University, Prof. Shai was asked about his insights on Israel-China ties and...
Initial contacts between Israel and the People’s Republic of China began in the early 1950s. In theory, diplomatic relations between the two countries could have been formed long before 1992, when they actually began. We asked Prof. Yitzhak Shichor, one of the leading and most experienced scholars in Israel on the subject of China, how relations were formulated, what prompted them, and what delayed them. In addition to bilateral interests, a number of trilateral factors have shaped Chinese and Israeli considerations, and affected...
During President Biden’s recent visit to Israel and Saudi Arabia, there was ostensibly almost no discussion about the US strategic rivalry with China. In fact, however, during his visit, the President advanced practical steps to mobilize America’s regional partners to its efforts, primarily in the tech sphere. A joint statement about establishment of a dialogue between Jerusalem and Washington on advanced technology reflects common understandings about the challenges of technological competition, and signals a new stage in the...
As with other emerging technologies, batteries for electric cars and the efforts to achieve control of the developing technology are another example of the blurred border between civil technologies and those that affect national security. China has shown interest in Israeli developments in this field, and therefore the Israeli government must define a national policy on the subject in order to avoid finding itself in an unwanted and undesirable clash with the United States.
January 24, 2022 marked 30 years since the start of diplomatic relations between Israel and China. Over these three decades the relations between the parties have experienced ups and downs. Israel sees China as a rising power with enormous economic potential, yet there are differences between the countries, particularly over China-Iran cooperation and China’s voting pattern at the UN, which does not always support Israel’s interests. In recent years, the relations have likewise been affected by the competition between the great...
Twin and sister city relations are usually managed by municipalities aiming to advance municipal and business needs, but in China they are also used to promote the objectives of the Communist Party and the central government, and in fact are directed by them. Due to the different structures and modus operandi of government in Israel and China, and in view of the differences in power and the gaps in knowledge between elements on each side, city relationships sometimes spill over into foreign and security policy, which in Israel are...
The struggle between the United States and China for technological supremacy in the microchip market, combined with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, has disrupted the global microchip supply chain, resulting in a severe shortage that has continued for over two years. This crisis highlights both the worldwide dependence on microchips and the strategic advantages accrued by countries that succeed in taking advantage of the crisis for their own benefit.
Less than two weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Vladimir Putin at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing. The display of unity left an impression in the West of the emergence of a new axis facing the United States. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine put China in a problematic position, in which the West considers it a partner in an “axis of evil,” or at least responsible for the continuation of this axis. This article examines the possible lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war...
Against the background of the nuclear talks in Vienna, the question arises whether China and Russia can persuade Iran to reach a new deal with the powers. This article reviews how China and Russia percieve their relations with Iran and what their interests are in the negotiations, and assesses whether the talks could achieve agreement over the future of the Iranian nuclear program.
In July 2021 the American think tank CSIS published a report detailing espionage activity by Chinese intelligence in the United States, aimed at targets in government, defense, and civilian sectors. The espionage efforts included the extensive use of governmental, political party, business, and academic bodies from China. It is highly likely that China’s espionage efforts, are also underway in Israel, which is seen by China as a leading technological power. Israel’s advanced capabilities, in particular, regarding elite...
The joint announcement by the presidents of China and Russia following their meeting on February 4, 2022 sharpens the conclusion that unlike in the first incarnation of the Cold War, where for the most part these two countries pursued different policies toward the United States, in the new version of this war they form a united front against it. The ideological dimension that separated them has been replaced by a set of fairly similar national-political economic and military interests. In the first round of the Cold War, when the...
The international system is struggling with many crises and challenges, led by the continued efforts at economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis while coping with the pandemic itself; the intensifying competition between the United States and China, which heightens the divisiveness in the international dynamic; and the climate crisis, which tests the ability to cooperate despite disagreements. The US administration has less attention for the Middle East, and is restoring human rights considerations to a central place in its policy,...
