Strategic Assessment

In the past few years, Israel granted two Chinese firms major concessions in its two principal ports on the Mediterranean cost – Haifa and Ashdod. These add to a growing Chinese maritime presence in the East Mediterranean, Egypt, Greece, and Turkey, in what seems to be a move to facilitate China’s growing trade with Europe. The question arises whether the Chinese enterprise is motivated purely by economic reasoning. Or, might there be long term strategic thinking behind these efforts? This article surveys China’s maritime expansion in the region and questions whether Israel has given sufficient thought to strategic considerations beyond the economic benefits.