This paper will try to discuss the Chinese foreign policy with the government of Israel. It will attempt to discuss about the diverse aspects of diplomatic relationship between these two countries. It will also try to point out the different areas of interest and fields of knowledge in which these two nations are united. The paper will also state the different current issues and topics that are essential in contemporary China-Israel relations.
On Jan. 24, 1992, Israeli Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Levy visited China and signed a communiqué together with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen and the two countries officially established diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level.[1] This joint communiqué stated that the government of the State of Israel officially recognizes that the government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of the territory of the People’s Republic of China.[2] Likewise, the two countries agreed to develop friendly relations and cooperation between the two countries and two peoples on the basis of the universally recognized principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit and peaceful coexistence.[3]
To further strengthen the diplomatic ties between the two countries, Israel set up a consulate-general in Shanghai in August 1994. Visits between the two countries after the establishment of diplomatic relations increased gradually.[4] From the Chinese side, many high-level officials visited Israel. They were State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen (twice, the second time as Vice Premier and Foreign Minister), Vice Premier Zou Jiahua, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Wu Yi, State Councilor and Minister of National Science and Technology Commission Song Jian, Vice Premier Li Lanqing, Ministerr of National Planning Commission Chen Jinhua, Member of the Central Political Bureau of Communist Party of China (CPC) and Member of the Secretariat of the Central Political Bureau of CPC Wen Jiabao, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, State Councilor and Defence Minister Chi Haotian, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Peng Peiyun, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Li Peng and President Jiang Zemin.[5]
From the Israeli side, there were President Herzog, Foreign Minister Peres, Prime Minister Rabin, Speaker of Knesset Dan Tichon (attending the 96th Inter-parliamentary Conference) ,Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Levy, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Environment Eitan, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Mordechai, President Weizman.[6]
In May 1993, the two countries signed an agreement on cultural exchanges.[7] And in November 1998, the implementation plan of Sino-Israeli cultural exchanges from1999 to2001 was signed.[8] From 1993, the two governments started to exchange 5 students in each direction every year.[9]
In March 1992, the two countries' civil aviation administrations signed a memorandum of understanding and agreed for Israeli airlines to operate chartered planes from Tel Aviv directly to Beijing.[10] In October 1993,the two sides signed a civil aviation agreement. In June 1994, agreement on tourist cooperation was signed between the two countries.[11]
There have also been a lot of state visits between the leaders and prominent authorities of both China and Israel to further boost the relationship between these two countries. Notable of these visits is the official trip made by then President Jiang Zemin in Israel during the year 2000. He met with Israeli President Ezer Weizman, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, parliamentary leaders as well as other senior officials.[12] The two countries are also signed two agreements on economy and education respectively. President Jiang also made a trip to see the Holocaust Memorial Center and the high- tech industries and factories in Israel’s agricultural sector. Other notable officials that have visited Israel are the Chinese legislator Li Peng, the Chinese Defense Minister Chi Haotian and Dai Bingguo, head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee.[13] These acts of diplomacy were reciprocated when Israeli President Weizman visited China following the then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to China in 1998.[14]
The President of Israel, Mr. Moshe Katsav and his wife went on a state visit December 14, 2003 on a State Visit to China.[15] The President and his wife were invited on the State Visit, which will last approximately one week, by the President of China, Hu Jintao. The President’s delegation were composed of the President of the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities, Professor Jacob Ziv, the Chairman of the Likud faction, M.K. Gideon Saar, the Chairman of the Labour faction, M.K. Dalia Itzik, the Managing Director of the Manufacturers Association of Israel, Mr. Yoram Blizovski, and the Chairman of the Israel Export and International Corporation Institute, Mr. Shraga Brosh.[16]
During the visit, the President met with the President, Hu Jintao, with the Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao and with the Chairman of the 10th National People’s Congress (NPC), Wu Bangguo. Economic agreement signing ceremonies of private companies, with the participation of the President with their Chinese counterparts are completed during the state visit.[17] During his visit, the President inaugurated the new building of the Israeli Embassy, “Beit Yisrael,” which includes living quarters, in the capital of China, and he also participated in a Chanukah candle lighting ceremony which were be attended by some of the Israeli community in China and Jewish diplomats of the Diplomatic Corps serving in China.[18]
Diplomatic relations between these two countries are not limited to state visits and other formal diplomatic responses, there also has been diplomatic exchange that are viewed militarily although both nations are silent in explicitly stating that they are having arms and weapons deals and negotiations for fear of antagonizing one of the Allies of Israel which is the United States.[19] Based on researches, studies and opinions made by respectable defense organizations and websites, the arms deal and weapon exchange that is being made between China and Israel is definitely one sided and imbalanced with the Israeli defense companies supplying a large part of weapons, defense technology and other military hardwares to China.[20] This transfer of technology of Israel to China has produced diplomatic friction between Israel and the United States since Israel is transferring weapon technologies that are made and are incorporated to the U.S. military.[21]
United States officials and defense analysts perceived that a Chinese military equipped with the third party U.S. military technology and weapons from Israel will be a potential threat to the stability and equilibrium in Asia.[22] What worries US strategic planners is that, as a consequence of these apparently warm ties, high-technology weaponry that leaks from Israel to China could, in turn, find its way to what the US regards as rogue states in the Middle East.[23]
Despite the pressure exerted by the United States to Israel, the Israeli government and defense contractors are silently supplying and developing weapons and military equipments for China.[24] Israel is China's second-largest arms supplier (the first being Russia) and although diplomatic relations between Israel and China were established only in 1992, military ties go back to the early 1980s.[25] Until formal diplomatic ties were established, the military relationship was covert. Israel sold about US$4 billion worth of arms to China before the establishment of diplomatic relations.[26] In the 1990s, the Sino-Israel military relationship grew rapidly. In fact, arms sales contributed to the strengthening of diplomatic engagement.[27]
Recent concerns have centered on the transfer of laser weapons technology. In early 1999, the Washington Times said the Defense Intelligence Agency suspected Israel had shared with the Chinese restricted technology obtained during a joint US-Israeli effort – the Tactical High-Energy Laser (Thel) program - to build a battlefield laser gun.[28] The evidence was said to have come from US contractors in Israel who had seen Chinese technicians working with one of the Israeli companies involved in the laser project.[29]
Such reports help explain the motivation behind the setting up of a House of Representatives sub-committee to investigate the relationship under the chairmanship of the Republican, , which made its findings partially public in May 1999. The report noted that recent years had been marked by increased Sino-Israeli co-operation on military and security matters. It also noted that Israel had given China "significant technology co-operation" in aircraft and missile development, most notably in developing the F-10 fighter and airborne early warning aircraft.[30] The F-10 is closely modeled on Israel's Lavi fighter, a project dropped in 1987 after it had been funded by the US to the tune of some $1.5billion.[31]
Israel also tried to sell its IAI Phalcon Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW & C) radar system to China which was developed by Israeli Aircraft Industries and Elta Electronic Industries. This military hardware is considered to be the most sophisticated and advanced AEW & C system in the world capable of tracking high maneuvering targets and low flying objects from hundreds of kilometers away under all weather conditions in both day and night.[32] When the United States found out about the purchase, Pentagon officials pressured the Israeli companies involved to rescind from the business deal saying that this military technology would give Beijing a strategic edge in any Taiwan conflict in the future.[33] As a result, Israel ultimately had to pay China $350 million in compensation, and there were no known arms sales through 2003.[34]
Western military attachés in Beijing said that cooperation between Israel and China in the defense field runs deep. They stated that aircraft industries of Israel are involved in Chinese projects covering fighter development and airborne early warning technology.[35] They believed that Israel’s military industries are providing cruise missile related technology to China and stated that Rafael – the Israeli Defense Research and Development Agency for air launched weapons --- has sold Python 3 air to air missiles to the Chinese and is seeking to sell them the more advanced Python 4.[36] U.S. naval intelligence has long assumed that Israel has passed American provided technology to the Chinese for China’s -10 fighter program.[37]
This problem on weapons transfer was highlighted during the diplomatic crisis regarding the China U.S. spy plane debacle that happened in April 1, 2001 where a United States Navy EP-3E was intercepted by a People’s Liberation Army Air Force J-8 fighter jet near the island of Hainan. One of the Chinese jets bumped the wing of the EP-3E forcing it to make an emergency landing on Hainan.[38] U.S. released pictures of the Chinese F-8 fighter plane that collided with the American EP-3E surveillance jet, in an attempt to show that the Chinese jet was in fact at fault.[39] But the real news was that attached to the wings of the F-8 plane were Israeli Python missiles, built under license in China.[40] Israel designed the Pythons by studying the technology of U.S. Sidewinder missiles, sold to Israel many years earlier. So like a boomerang, U.S. arms exports to a trusted ally came back to threaten U.S. military forces in a most unexpected place.
Military hardwares and weapons technology are also not the only things that are being transferred by Israel to China. Training and personnel equipments exchange are also part of the ongoing military relationship between the two countries.[41] Training programs for People’s Liberation Army representatives and police at the Israel Military Industries Academy for Advanced Security and Anti-Terror Training are currently under discussion.[42] Another possible area of future cooperation involves the leasing of Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle services.[43] Ministry of Defense Director-General Yaron reiterated these two projects, citing homeland security and counter-terrorism as potential areas for expanding Israeli-Chinese cooperation.[44] The active participation of Israeli security experts in the preparation for the forthcoming 2008 Olympic Games can be seen as one notable example of this type of cooperation.[45]
After viewing this growing military relationship and cooperation between China and Israel, Chinese policy also dictates that it establishes military relations with Middle East countries that are foes and enemies of Israel. This is necessary to court and to get preferential price for the oil that countries in the Middle East produce. Iran, a zealously anti Israel nation has initiated its nuclear enrichment program for humanitarian purposes but Western nations and the European Community view this movement as a step on making Iran a nuclear power capable of mass producing nuclear bombs and missiles. China is definitely helped Iran in it becoming a nuclear capable nation since it provides equipments, parts, guidance systems, components and other technical tools that are helpful in using nuclear power for electricity and for building a nuclear tipped missile.[46] China has also provided Iran with two 300 MWe (Megawatt) nuclear reactor units possibly located at Darkhovin, Iran during the administration of then President Khatami.[47]
China has also provided Iran with ship-borne longer range cruise type missiles called C-802, which are at the top of the line in terms of Chinese production capability.[48] These missiles have a range of between 60 and 90 kilometers and they are classified as sea skimming missiles making them harder to intercept and destroy. China has also helped Iran in developing the propulsion and guidance system of its Shahab 3 missile which is an identical copy of the No Dong missile developed by North Korea. The Shahab-3 is capable of carrying a one-metric-ton warhead over 800 miles. Tehran announced that the Shahab-3's main target is Israel. Six Shahab-3 missiles were put on display in September 2003 during a parade in Tehran celebrating the anniversary of the Iran-Iraq war. One of the missiles carried a banner declaring "We will wipe Israel off the map." [49]
This double dealing made by China with regards to the nature of its diplomatic relationship with Israel while supporting and helping the enemies of this same country to develop and to manufacture weapons that would grievously harm Israel is part of a compromise that is related to the oil industry and the continuing supply of fuel to Chinese industries. If China wants to acquire oil and other petroleum based products that are needed by its growing industry and economy, it must acquire these essential products at a much lower price to lessen the impact of these purchases on its dollar reserves. The military aid and equipments that is being funneled by the Chinese government serves to act as an leverage and a “carrot” in this diplomatic dance. Military hardwares and weapon systems are the “products” that are needed by these Middle East nations while China needs oil for its economy. To be able to strike a deal, cooperation and symbiosis of this kind is necessary from the point of view of the Chinese policymakers.
Petroleum industry studies indicate that China uses about 600 000 barrels of oil per day and if the Chinese economy continues to grow at the present rate, this demand is expected to increase to about 1 000 000 barrels per day by the year 2000 and to 3 000 000 barrels by 2010.[50] The friendship and goodwill that will be extended by China by using military hardwares and equipments as bargaining chips will have a direct impact on the future supply of oil for the country’s development. Beginning from 1993, China has changed from a pure oil exporter to a pure oil importer. In 2001, China's pure import of oil reached as high as 64.9 million tons.[51]
As early as the 1980s, China had already had such anxiety with regards to its constant supply of oil. Oil is a limited resource, although China is a large oil producer ranking fifth in the world, it is at the same time a large oil consumer, oil output lags behind the rapid economic growth demand for oil. Since 1984, the average annual growth of crude oil output has come to 1.7 percent, but the average annual growth of oil consumption has reached 4.9 percent in the same period. In 2000, the import of oil and oil products reached 70 million tons, an all-time high (a slight drop in 2001), accounting for 30 percent of the amount of the nation's consumption in that year.[52] Based on such a rate, by 2010, China will need to import 40 percent oil from abroad, and this proportion will reach as high as 50 percent by 2020. Any sign of disturbance in the international oil market and conflict with the Middle East will immediately exert negative effect on the economy of China with so high a degree of dependence on imported oil.
While China's imports from smaller oil producing countries rise and fall, the Chinese partnerships with major producers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran have increased exponentially. Whereas in 1994, Iran accounted for just one percent of China's total imports, less than a decade later, Beijing purchased $2 billion (US) of oil from Tehran, representing more than 15 percent of its total 2002 oil imports.[53] Today, the figure is probably larger still. In October 2004, the head of China's National Reform and Development Commission and Iranian oil minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh signed a memorandum of understanding regarding bilateral energy cooperation. According to the agreement, the Chinese government will buy 10 million tons of Iranian oil each year for the next twenty-five years. In return, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (), the nation's second largest oil producer, may develop the Yadavaran oil field in Iran's western Kurdistan province, giving China a 50 percent interest in the field's estimated 17 billion barrel reserve.[54] Yadavaran could be China's biggest oil investment in the Middle East. Nevertheless, China-Iran trade should be kept in perspective. While the China trade may be significant for Iran, the opposite is not true. Bilateral Sino-Iranian trade accounts for only 0.6 percent of the Chinese total.
Beijing views the Middle East not only in terms of its value as a source of oil but also in the context of its huge potential as an oil services market. Early in 1979, Chinese labor services companies entered the Gulf Cooperation Council markets. By 2001, China had signed almost 3,000 contracts in all six Gulf Cooperation Council states for labor services worth $2.7 billion.[55] The overseas construction arm of China National Petroleum Corporation moved into the Kuwaiti market in 1983, and a major business expansion took place in 1995 when the group won an oil storage reconstruction project in Kuwait. Since then China has expanded into oil services in Egypt, Qatar, Oman and other parts of the Arab world
China is also not only focusing on the Middle East countries for its oil. The China National Petroleum Corp. has developed oil cooperation with the Sudan, bringing in 5 million tons of share oil from the country through the Straits of Malacca. China's largest energy company in Sudan is pumping crude oil, sending it 1,000 miles upcountry through a Chinese-made pipeline to the Red Sea, where tankers wait to ferry it to China's industrial cities.
In October 1992, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng visited Israel and signed a trade agreement between the two governments. Afterwards, the two sides also signed agreements on avoiding double taxation and investment protection. The total trade volume between the two countries in 2000 amounted to $1,050 million, of which China exported $720 million and imported $330 million. The trade volume between the two countries in 2001 was US$1,310,000,000, of which the Chinese export was US$830,000,000, and import US$480,000,000.[56]
In 1993, China and Israel signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries' Ministry of Agriculture, and successively built a Sino-Israeli Agricultural Training Center in Beijing Agriculture Engineering University and a Sino-Israeli Model Farm in the suburb of Beijing.[57] Some projects such as a demonstration farm and the cooperative research on water resources, biology, and nano-technology have become good examples of Sino-Israeli cooperation.
Israel also hosts today approximately 20,000 Chinese workers. Most of them are employed in construction; the rest in agriculture, nursing, and services. Although security is pretty tight in inside Israel, Chinese laborers and workers are sometimes the victims with regards to suicide bombings and mortar attacks aimed at Israeli civilians. On June 8, 2005, a Chinese named Bi Shude from the Jilin Province of China was killed in a Palestinian mortar attack in the Jewish settlement of Ganei-Tal located in the Gaza Strip.[58] The spokesman of the Chinese embassy meanwhile stated that eight Chinese have been killed and more than 20 wounded in the past five years of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.[59]
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