Ancient Ties

Modern Sino-Israeli commercial relations has its roots reaching back hundreds of years, to the time of China's Tang dynasty, when the Silk Road was the main trade route connecting China and the West. As early as the 7th century, small groups of Jewish merchants in cities such as Kaifeng along the Silk Road and reached as far as China's eastern coastline. Later, in the 19th century, waves of Jewish immigrants, merchants, industrialists and businessmen, settled in China's newly industrialized cities, taking part in the business life of those cities. Many Baghdadi Jews settled in Shanghai, and Russian Jews settled in Northeastern China in cities such as Harbin. Albeit small, vibrant Jewish communities were being set up in other trading centers such as Tianjin, and Hong Kong. Those Jews not only integrated in the commercial life of those places but had also a remarkable influence on the development of trade, manufacturing, banking and other business aspects in those cities.

 

The Early Years

The turbulent times of the 20th century, the turmoil of WWII, and the founding of the People's Republic of China and the State of Israel, have transformed relations between two ancient civilizations into relations between two modern states.

 

In 1950 the state of Israel officially recognized the People's Republic of China. Establishing bilateral diplomatic ties, however, was complicated by the then ongoing Korean War. Unofficial ties, however, were established by the Chinese and Israeli governments, regardless of global politics. As early as 1954 plans to send an Israeli commercial delegation to China were agreed upon by both governments. The delegation, which left for China in January 1955, was hosted by the Chinese Commercial Foreign Affairs Office, and spent a total of 4 weeks visiting major Chinese cities. The mission was a success and both sides expressed hope for future commercial relations. Although the delegation did not meet with high ranking officials it was a significant step in improving Sino-Israeli relations. In order to reduce the impact of this visit in the political spheres outside China and Israel, the delegation also visited Thailand and the Philippines.

 

Although the trade delegation showed promise of improving relations, the Bandung conference of April 1955 resulted in a long period of stagnation in Sino-Israeli relations and the complete halt of all Sino-Israeli ties. Several Israeli businessmen who showed interest in the Chinese market were denied entry by the Chinese authorities. During this time the only limited ties that were conducted were sporadic contact between scientists from both countries.

 

In 1958, businessman Victor Zirinsky was appointed Israel's Honorary Consul in Hong Kong, then already a world renowned commercial and industrial center. Later in 1973, as Hong Kong's importance continued to grow, an Israeli consulate was established and Emanuel Gelber was appointed General Consul. One of the consulate's initial goals was to promote Sino-Israeli relations. Unfortunately, the efforts made to establish diplomatic relations with china failed and the Consulate General was closed, leaving the Israeli representation in the hands of Victor Zirinsky once again.

 

The Open Door Era

After the end of the Cultural Revolution and the death of Chairman Mao in 1976, the newly appointed Deng Xiaoping reprioritized China's national goals, ranking the modernization of China's economy on the top of the list. China's targeted areas for development were agriculture, industry, science and technology. This new openness in China's relations with the West provided new opportunities for Sino-Israeli relations to improve.

 

Agriculture was the first area of Israeli expertise to draw Chinese attention. Government projects promoting the development of rural and arid areas in China resulted in Sino-Israeli cooperation in water irrigation, establishment of model farms, flower greenhouses, cattle enhancement; the purchasing of general agricultural equipment manufactured in Israel; and many visits of Israeli experts to China to provide training in advanced agricultural methods.

 

During this period of the late 70’s and early 80’s, diverse scientific and technological relations were accelerated. Cooperation in technological fields as well as social sciences and humanities significantly improved. Israeli scientists were invited to take part in international conferences held in China, although initially only Israeli nationals who held additional non-Israeli passports were invited; Beginning in 1986 all Israeli passports holders were able to participate.

 

In the Paris Air Show in 1975 and later on in the 1978 Switzerland Military Show, China began to show interest in Israeli defense technologies that can help modernize its military forces. In 1979 businessman Shaul Eisenberg, who had diverse commercial relations in East Asia, helped defense-related Sino-Israeli cooperation take shape by negotiating between the Chinese need for modern military equipment and the Israeli recourses.

 

The 1984 agreement between China and Great Britain for the reunification of Hong-Kong with the Chinese mainland stated that Consular representations lacking diplomatic relations with China and do have representation in Hong-Kong, will have the opportunity to keep operating offices under Chinese authority. Israel, still without official diplomatic ties to China, jumped at this opportunity and, in August 1985, the Consulate General in Hong-Kong was re-opened. One of the Consulate General's primary goals was to find ways to overcome Chinese political hurdles and promote Sino-Israeli economic trade.

 

Although official relations were still somewhat stagnant, unofficial ties were improving at a rapid rate. In 1985 a Chinese agricultural delegation visited Israel and met with the Minister of Agriculture. In June of that year a delegation of 11 Israeli industrialists visited China. The delegation was organized by Singaporean businessman Ohad Israel and led by the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Agriculture, Prof. Shmuel Pohorilis. During the visit the parties decided to establish an Israeli agricultural demonstration farm within China. In 1986, Israeli experts visited China offering water irrigation and cotton crops consulting. In April 1986 after the Vice President of Israel's national Academy for Science, Prof. Yehoshua Yurtner, participated in a scientific conference in Beijing, the authorities decided to allow Israeli scientists to freely participate in Chinese conferences in the future. Later that year the University of Beijing opened a class for Hebrew studies. In 1986 Israeli businessmen holding only an Israeli passport were finally allowed to enter China. In 1987 the Israeli corporation "Copeco", aiming to developed commercial and economical relations with Chinese corporations, was founded; Israeli tourists were also allowed to visit China.

 

Formal Ties

A significant step towards formal Sino-Israeli relations was taken in September 1988. Then Minister of Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres met with Chinese counterpart Qian Qichen. Following this meeting, the Israeli Academy of Science opened an office in Beijing. The official role of the office was to supervise and oversee scientists and promote the exchange of knowledge. The unofficial role was to function as a liaison office for both governments. An office of the Chinese Ministry of Tourism (CITS) was to open in Tel-Aviv for a similar purpose.

 

Political events in the early 1990s, most importantly the end of the Cold War and the Madrid Peace Conference (where significant progress to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was made) provided the right circumstances for the formation of formal ties between the two nations. The ceremony marking the establishing of Sino-Israeli diplomatic relations took place on January 24th 1992 in Beijing. The office of the Chinese Ministry of Tourism in Tel-Aviv then became the Chinese embassy in Israel and the Israeli Academic Office became the Israeli embassy in Beijing.

 

After diplomatic relations were established, focus shifted to improve commercial relations, Sino-Israeli trade balance was no more than USD 50 million at the time. In October 1993 a bilateral commercial agreement was signed, and in February 1994 science, medicine, and cultural agreements were signed as well. Additional bilateral agreements were signed in the following years; including agreements pertaining to the affairs of Standard Institutions, Aviation, Seamanship, Tax, R&D, and Mutual Finance.

 

Sino-Israeli Relations at the turn of the Century

During the late nineties, hundreds of Chinese students arrived in Israel for continuing education programs; thousands more participated in courses given in China by Israeli instructors. Course included instructors from the fields of agriculture, economic and social development, community development, rural development, public medicine, science, technology, and education. These mutual efforts had significant impact; as an example Chinese crop output in certain regions was doubled thanks to knowhow learned in these courses.

 

The year 2000 was the lowest point in the Sino-Israeli relations to date, as the "Phalcon" crisis, as it became to be known, caused political relations cooled down significantly. Nonetheless, commercial relations were not as highly impacted, a fact that can indicate the importance both countries gave to those bilateral ties.

 

Final Words

Since formal diplomatic ties were established in 1992, Sino-Israeli trade grew in double digit figures annually. Due to China's increased importance in the global economy, the Israeli Trade office announced China as a preferable export state (2004), promoting exports of IT and Telecommunications, Agro technology, Water and Irrigation, and Green Technology projects.