Special to WorldTribune.com

JERUSALEM — China and Israel have moved toward
renewing strategic relations, a report said.

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs asserted that China and Israel
completed a series of exchanges that promoted defense and economic
cooperation. In a report, the center said Beijing was seeking to maintain
its interests in the Middle East amid revolts throughout the Arab world.

“2011 proved to be a banner year for warming China-Israel relations,” the report, titled “A Quiet Transformation in China’s Approach to Israel,” said. “Official visits between the two governments grew in both number and rank, capped with visits by Gen. Chen Bingde and Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak.”

In 2011, China and Israel also exchanged visits by senior military commanders. The two countries were said to have
conducted a strategic dialogue as well as joint training programs.

“But for all the governmental and academic exchanges taking place, on close examination it becomes clear that China’s leadership continues to lack a basic understanding of Israel and the region,” the report, authored by Carice Witte, said. “The minimal information they and their academic advisors do have is primarily sourced via their 50-year-old network of affiliations throughout the Arab world and Iran.”

Dated April 2, Ms. Witte, who has directed Western initiatives in China,
said Beijing’s move to Israel was meant to compensate for the so-called Arab
Spring when the regimes in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia were overthrown. She
said China lost $20 billion in Libya alone with the fall of the regime of
the late Col. Moammar Gadhafi.

“In their search for accurate and reliable information, leading
academics began to seek out Israel, an island of stability whose geographic
proximity to the Arab Spring offers unique access,” the report said.

“Interactions between China and Israel had risen significantly over the
years but had remained largely ‘off the record,’ due to the Arab nations’
strong influence on the PRC leadership’s public approach to Israel.”

The report said 2011 saw a change in China’s approach toward Israel. Ms.
Witte said China established five Israel studies programs throughout the
country and in September, the Communist Party participated in the first
China-Israel Strategy and Security Symposium at the Interdisciplinary Center
in the Israeli city of Herzliya.

The improved relations between China and Israel appear to be largely
economic and political rather than defense. The report cited the Chinese
Communist Party invitation to an Israeli Cabinet minister, Yuli Edelstein,
to participate in a conference in late 2010 as part of an interventionist
strategy by Beijing in the Middle East.

In February, China’s Shanghai Jiaotong University sent a 30-member
delegation of industrialists and academics to Israel and the Palestinian
Authority. The report said this marked the largest Chinese investment group
to have visited Israel. In 2010, bilateral trade was reported at $7.65
billion.

“Demands and expectations internally and externally will continue to
grow and to some extent, China will be seeking out Israel, its scholars, and
experts as a trusted source of information and greater understanding in
order to meet the responsibilities brought by its economic success,” the
report said.

  Arab Spring, Carice Witte, China, China-Israel Strategy and Security Symposium, Ehud Barak, Israel close to establishing strategic ties, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs