Israel expected to tighten restrictions on Chinese investment in face of growing US pressure
- The country’s security cabinet is considering measures to tighten oversight of foreign investment, moves many expect will be expanded to the hi-tech sector
- China has previously urged Israel not to fall in line with US restrictions amid their growing competition for tech supremacy
The Israeli government is expected to approve new foreign investment restrictions targeting China in the face of growing pressure from the United States.
Haaretz reported Israel’s security cabinet was expected to approve measures that would strengthen government oversight of foreign investment, allow the government to intervene when foreign investors controlled more than 5 per cent of a company’s shares, and disqualify foreign enterprises from bidding or obtaining licences for local projects if they were deemed a threat to national security.
While the new restrictions reportedly would not cover the hi-tech industry, they could soon be extended to this area because of the growing US-Chinese tech rivalry, said Mordechai Chaziza, a senior lecturer in politics and governance at Israel’s Ashkelon Academic College.
“Everyone is clear that the hegemony in the international system in the current century will be decided by whoever wins the technological competition,” Chaziza said.
“Israel and the West have an ongoing interest in the US continuing to remain the world’s dominant power. That is why imposing restrictions on Chinese investments in the hi-tech industry is rational and necessary.”
In August, the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department head Liu Jianchao told Israeli ambassador to China Irit Ben-Abba that Israel and China were at a “critical test point” and he hoped Israel would not align with US policy towards Beijing, according to Israeli media reports.
