The recent tension between the US and China surrounding Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan could further deteriorate into an open conflict between the two world powers. Israel cannot take a direct part in the conflict, but can convey a clear message of its position in the competition between the powers.
The message must be sharp and clear - Israel stands by its ally, the USA.
This is also the right time to re-evaluate Israel-Taiwan relations. There is no reason to create unnecessary noise and poke a finger in the Chinese eye, especially when Israel is confronting other adversaries in the region, with an emphasis on Iran. Therefore, warming and improving relations between the democratic government in Israel and the democratic government in Taiwan, both of which are under threat from dangerous dictatorships, would be a wise step.
Washington expects, and rightly so, that its allies will side with it in the emerging new Cold War.
It is important not to be mistaken: the Sino-American competition will be intense and critical to world security, no less than the cold war between Moscow and Washington.
Israel chose wisely in those years (when most of its rivals were wrong), and it should do the same now.
Israel's room for flexibility is shrinking, and sensitivity to Israel-China relations is increasing.
Strengthening relations with Taiwan will signal to the US where Israel stands.
The crisis between the US and China over Taiwan in 1995-1996, when China conducted missile tests around Taiwan and President Clinton sent American destroyers to the region, preceded an acute crisis between Israel and the US in the following decade.
The cooperation between Israel and China, expressed in the sale of military equipment and sensitive technologies such as roving drones (Arfi) and early warning systems (Falcon), has clouded security relations and cooperation with the US for a long time.
The crisis ended only after a system of understandings was built, which included agreed mechanisms for limiting defense exports and the construction of a new export control department in the Ministry of Defense.
With eyes on Iran
Today, the tightening relations between Iran and China serve as another source of concern, in Israel and the US. The Chinese plan to invest, over the next 25 years, 400 billion dollars in the Iranian economy, in exchange for very cheap Iranian oil, and tighten military cooperation, so that US efforts to impose sanctions and isolate Tehran.
The money that will flow, along with access to advanced Chinese technologies, will help establish the Iranian defense industry and support the conventional weapons programs, with an emphasis on the ballistic missile programs, and will also advance the nuclear programs.
Also, it will allow financing terrorist activities of the Revolutionary Guards, and the continued support and financing of the terrorist groups in our region, Hezbollah and Hamas.
For Israel, this deal must be another pillar in the alarming wake-up call: China is not a friend, and it's time to leave Beijing.
Chinese ballistic missiles on parade in Beijing, photo: AP
The danger is the same for the USA. The Chinese president is looking for ways to replace American dominance in the Indo-Pacific region and then in the entire world. The Chinese are violating resolutions to prevent the strengthening of nuclear and missile technologies of Iran, North Korea and Pakistan, militarizing the South China Sea, stealing intellectual property and trampling on rights Adam. China lied about the corona virus and suppressed vital information that could have prevented a global human and economic disaster.
In Taiwan, after Nancy Pelosi's visit, the Chinese carried out a large-scale military exercise and launched precision missiles over Taiwan, which fell into Japan's economic waters.
In doing so, they demonstrated that they are ready to use military force and threaten US allies. Taiwan has entered the eye of the storm.
Some in Israel claim that breaking away from China will not be simple, given that it is one of the largest trading partners and sources of investment. China has an eye on critical Israeli infrastructure, which it wants to connect to its "BELT AND ROAD" initiative. This includes the Port of Haifa, the Port of Ashdod, the Carmel Tunnels, and the subway in Tel Aviv. The strategic importance is clear, some of the infrastructure operates alongside central military facilities, large businesses, food suppliers and essential military and civilian services.
Chinese workers at the light rail works in Tel Aviv, photo: Moshe Shai
China has identified the Israeli high-tech sector and academia as an essential source of super technologies.
Relatively small Chinese investments, especially in academia, are strategic in nature and are designed to steal Israeli knowledge with the help of artificial intelligence technologies, supercomputing, autonomous vehicles, robotics, big data and more.
These are technologies declared by the US Department of Defense to be essential to its modernization efforts, even if they have "civilian" applications.
It may hurt, but Israel must reexamine these ties.
Maintaining the American military and economic lead is critical to Israel's security, and Sino-Israeli technological cooperation will harm this lead, as well as the potential for cooperation with the US. The professors in the academy must understand that research and articles are shared with Chinese colleagues, especially if they are connected to the government and the military, or Partially funded by them, will seriously damage their ability to work with the US.
Israeli entrepreneurs must also understand that Chinese cooperation will greatly limit their access to American capital and markets. In Israel, we must abandon the illusion that a clear line can be drawn between defense and civilian technologies and projects.
The Taiwanese booth at the tourism fair // Photo: Gideon Markowitz,
Israeli academia and entrepreneurs should deepen their ties with Taiwan.
Even if it is a small economy, compared to China, it is not an "economic mouse".
The Taiwanese economy has a gross national product of about 800 billion dollars and ranks 22nd in the world in the index.
This is one of the free economies in Asia with clear laws to protect intellectual property and a free economy, in contrast to the Chinese economy that lures Israeli companies, and then they discover that their businesses and advanced technologies have been stolen, without support and protection from the Chinese system.
Israel must stay on the side of the US in the emerging cold war between Washington and Beijing, and leave China and Iran on the other side, and we haven't mentioned Russia yet. Israel can consider joining the US and its good security ties with Taiwan.
There is no choice but to choose the American side, and accompany this with official policy and activity.
Chinese citizens protest against the United States following Nancy Pelosi's visit to the country,
There is no need to enact special regulations and laws or make unnecessary statements, but simply make sure, using the Israeli informal system, that Chinese strategic investments, or academic and business ties on the sensitive issues, will not be determined according to narrow local agendas.
This is a sensitive security issue, and the recent events in Taiwan proved it.
The decisions must be handled directly by those responsible for national security, who are entrusted with seeing the big picture.
The US can help by strengthening ties and cooperation with Israel in high-tech and academia and by expanding defense cooperation, as demonstrated recently with the opening of the OTWG techno-operational working groups between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Defense.
The groups are designed to ensure that the American and Israeli fighters will never find themselves on the battlefield with inferior technology to their opponents.
The US will promote cooperation only in issues where it is 100 percent guaranteed that the technologies will not leak to China.
The sooner Israel disengages from China, the greater opportunities for cooperation will be created.
With the Chinese joining hands with Israel's most dangerous enemies in Iran, Israel now realizes that it must support the relationship with its closest friend, the United States, and keep its distance from its friend's greatest rival, China.
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