Israel maintains diplomatic relations with most Asian states. These countries’ growing economic and political strength has contributed to the intensification of ties in the political, cultural, and, above all, economic spheres. Technical cooperation with Israel in rural development, agriculture, and education has also played an important role in relations with the developing countries of the region.

Israel and China established diplomatic relations in 1992. Since then, they have developed their relations steadily, culminating in the historic visit of the Chinese president to Israel in 2000 and the visits of three Israeli presidents to Beijing in the last decade. Since the mid-1980s, Israel and Japan have steadily expanded their bilateral relations, reflected in the signing of several agreements and in the reciprocal visits of prime ministers. Japan has also played a significant role in the multilateral peace process.

The relations with India, which started in 1992, have also intensified in all aspects. In 2003, Israel’s prime minister made the first-ever visit to New Delhi.

For the second year in a row, the Arava International Center for Agricultural Training hosted a group of Tibetan trainees in 2005. The Dalai Lama visited Israel and met with the trainees and center representatives.

Israel established diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka in 2000 and maintains good relations with many ASEAN member countries. Some of these ties date back 50 years or more, as in the case of Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines. Some ties began more recently, when Israel established diplomatic relations with Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in 1993. In 2005, 150 trainees from Myanmar enrolled in courses at the Arava International Center for Agricultural Training.

Since the mid-1980s, Israel and Japan have steadily expanded bilateral cooperation, reflected inter alia in signing several agreements, reciprocal visits of prime ministers and ministers, and Japan’s contribution to the multilateral peace process. In 2002, Israel and Japan celebrated the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.

Israel has had full diplomatic ties with Australia and New Zealand for many years, though relations with the latter were briefly severed over the capture of Mossad agents operating illegally. Relations were also established with ten newly independent island states, most participating in various international cooperation programs.

In 2005, Israeli and Pakistani foreign ministers met publicly for the first time in Istanbul. Meanwhile, Pakistani Minister Khursheed Kusari revealed that Israel and Pakistan had had secret contact for some ten years before the ties were made public.

In 2006, Taiwan signed its first agreement with Israel for technological cooperation. Ruth Kahanoff, director of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, which serves as Israel’s de facto embassy in Taiwan without official diplomatic relations, signed the agreement in late January with Taiwanese officials from the country’s National Science Council. Earlier in the month, a representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv signed the same document with Israeli officials there. Key areas for cooperation will be nanotechnology and biotechnology.

In April 2014, Israel’s Ministry of the Economy announced plans to open trade attache offices in Asia (in addition to Africa and South America) as an effort by Foreign Trade Administration director Ohad Cohen to turn the ministry to emerging markets. The trend of Israel turning to new and growing markets at the expense of its European presence will continue because of the changing Israeli balance of trade. Six years ago, we were in a completely different place in terms of our activity in Asia [with] just two economic attaches in China and India, in Beijing and New Delhi. Today, we have five offices in China and three in India, and we added attaches in Vietnam and an office in Manila, which is examining business and trade opportunities with the Philippines. Because of this shift in attention, trade attache offices in Austria, Hungary, Finland, and Sweden were closed or downsized with offices in adjacent countries.

Sources: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Yuval Azulai, “Israel opens new trade attache offices in Asia, Africa,” Globes, (April 27, 2014).

Map: CIA Factbook.

Israel-Asia Cooperation