The ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, Cai Run, in a special column for Israel Hayom, reflects on 30 years of official relations – as well as looks into the future.
By Ambassador Cai Run, ISRAEL HAYOM
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands ahead of their talks at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China March 21, 2017 | Photo: Reuters / Etienne Oliveau / Pool
The year of 2022 is a milestone in China’s development. Marked by the successful convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), China embarked on a new journey of development. The year of 2022 is also an important year for China and Israel, as it marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties. Looking into the future, China is setting out on a new journey of development and the China-Israel relationship is embracing new opportunities.
In a phone call in November 2021, President Xi Jinping and President Herzog reached important consensus on and charted a course for the development of bilateral ties. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of China-Israel relations, the two Presidents exchanged congratulatory messages and agreed to take this opportunity to deepen bilateral ties. Over the past three decades, with the personal commitment by the leadership and the concerted efforts by people in both countries, China-Israel relations have kept a sound and steady momentum with fruitful cooperation outcomes across the board.
The past 30 years witnessed ever-increasing political mutual trust. Leaders of the two countries have maintained close interaction, and friendly exchanges have been carried out at all levels. We established the China-Israel Intergovernmental Mechanism of Economic and Technological Cooperation and the China-Israel Joint Committee on Innovation Cooperation (JCIC). In 2017, we launched the China-Israel Innovative Comprehensive Partnership, marking a new historical point of bilateral ties. This year, China and Israel successfully convened the fifth meeting of JCIC and held a series of activities to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, injecting new vitality into our bilateral relations.
The past 30 years witnessed vigorous development of mutually beneficial cooperation. The bilateral trade volume has risen from only $50 million when we first established diplomatic relations, to $22.8 billion in 2021, and then to $23.57 billion in the first 11 months of 2022, registering a 15.7% year-on-year growth. Israel’s exports to China and China’s exports to Israel both kept increasing. China became Israel’s largest trading partner in Asia and the second largest in the world, and also the largest source for Israel’s goods imports. The two sides are accelerating negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement. Once the negotiations are concluded and the agreement is signed, it will add another strong impetus to China-Israeli cooperation. Chinese companies are actively participating in Israel’s infrastructure construction and contributing to Israel’s economic and social development. The two sides have worked together to build landmark cooperation projects such as the China-Israel Changzhou Innovation Park and the China-Israel Shanghai Innovation Park. Innovation cooperation has become a highlight and a driving force for bilateral relations.
The past 30 years witnessed deepening people-to-people exchanges. While only a few thousand trips were made between the two countries when the diplomatic relationship was established, in 2019, 170,000 visits were made by Chinese travelers to Israel and around 100,000 by Israelis to China. Direct flights were opened between the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hong Kong, and the flights are being resumed as the pandemic situation is easing off. With close sub-national exchanges and cooperation, China and Israel now have a total of 28 pairs of sister cities.
The Chinese and Jewish people, both having a time-honored history and splendid culture, share a long-standing friendship. The cooperation outcomes we achieved in the past three decades have fully proved that with dovetailed visions and complementary strengths, cooperation between China and Israel has a win-win nature and delivers benefits to both countries and peoples. It has become a broad consensus for Chinese and Israeli people in all sectors to advance the innovative comprehensive partnership.
The 20th CPC National Congress pointed out the mission and pathway to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through a Chinese path to modernization, and drew a blueprint for China’s future development. Our goal is to basically realize socialist modernization by the year of 2035, and to build China into a great, modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful by the middle of this century. The Chinese path to modernization is the modernization of a huge population, of common prosperity for all, of both material and cultural-ethical advancement, of harmonious co-existence between humanity and nature, and of peaceful development. As the 20th CPC National Congress stressed, China is committed to the basic policy of opening up. China will continue upholding a win-win opening up strategy and advancing high-level opening up. As China embarks on a new journey of development, greater opportunities will be provided to Israel and all countries in the world, and broader prospects will be opened up for China-Israel relations going forward.
The age of 30 bears special significance in both Chinese and Jewish culture. The Chinese sage Confucius once observed, “One should be able to establish himself at the age of thirty.” The Jewish classic Talmud also regards 30 as the most energetic period in life. For China and Israel, the 30th anniversary is both an important historical juncture and a new starting point. Embracing new opportunities, the China-Israel relationship will build on the 30-year achievements and open a new chapter of greater splendor.
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