Israel has enough sense and self interest to avoid efforts to drag it into US-China trade war, analysts say
- China and Israel mark 27th anniversary of diplomatic ties at a difficult time
- Relationship could be tested by US efforts to influence Israeli government policy
Uncertainty over China’s relationship with Israel is growing as the United States puts pressure on its allies to harden their stance on Beijing while trade and geopolitical tensions between the world’s biggest economies get worse.
As China and Israel prepare to mark the 27th anniversary on Thursday of diplomatic ties, analysts from both countries worry that relations, caught in the US-China crossfire, may face more difficult tests.
Like most other countries, Israel wants to maintain good relations with both the US and China and is concerned about an escalating rivalry, Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington-based think tank, said.
“Sadly, the new atmosphere in US-China relations is putting many countries – Israel included – in an extremely uncomfortable situation in which they are forced to pick sides,” he said.
Luft, a former lieutenant colonel in the Israeli Defence Force, said Israel could become a “sandwich country” like Canada, caught in the middle as Washington continued efforts to build an international coalition against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.
