History
Diplomatic Relations
Trade
Academic Cooperation
Tourism and Culture
Military Cooperation
Regional Issues
Fighting COVID-19
U.S. Pressures Israel
Post October 7

History

In the 1930s, David Ben-Gurion said that China would be one of the great world powers of the future. Though he was prescient, Ben-Gurion could not win over the Chinese during its early years. In 1947, China abstained from the vote for partition and later expressed support for the Palestinians.

Until the 1980s, China refused to grant visas to Israelis unless they held dual citizenship and carried a passport of a country other than Israel. Following the Sino-Soviet split and China’s establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States in 1979, China and Israel began to build military ties secretly. Both countries supplied weapons to the Afghan mujahideen fighting the Soviets.

China eased travel restrictions, while Israel reopened its consulate in Hong Kong (then under British administration), which would serve as the main point for diplomatic and economic contact.

In 1987, Prime Minister Shimon Peres appointed Amos Yudan to establish the first official government-owned company, tasked with promoting commercial activities between companies in China and Israel. The company was active until 1992.

Before establishing full diplomatic relations, Israel and China established representative offices in Beijing and Tel Aviv, which functioned as de facto embassies. The Israeli office was formally known as the Liaison Office of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. This was opened in June 1990. China was similarly represented by a branch of the China International Travel Service, which also opened in 1990.

Diplomatic Relations

Israel and China first established diplomatic relations in January 1992. They have since developed their relations steadily, culminating in the historic visit of Chinese President Jiang Zemin to Israel in 2000.

Four Israeli presidents and three prime ministers, including most recently Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in March 2017, have made diplomatic and trade visits to Beijing. China’s receptive and friendly embrace of the Jewish people is based in part on their admiration for their contributions to humanity, their ability to survive, the sharing of Chinese values such as family, frugality, hard work, and education, and their status as products of ancient civilizations.

There is also a more political reason why China is interested in improving ties with Israel. Matan Vilnai, Israel’s former ambassador to China, explained: “We are important for them [China], because they see us as a bridge to America.” The Chinese “are convinced that we can influence inside the U.S. on things that will serve China.”

In November 2021, Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the first-ever phone call between the presidents of the two countries, according to a statement by Herzog’s office. The two discussed opportunities to enhance Israeli-Chinese bilateral ties with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations coming in 2022. Herzog and Xi exchanged state visits to mark the anniversary.

Trade

China is now Israel’s third-largest trading partner globally and its largest trading partner in East Asia. Trade volume increased from $50 million in 1992 to $13.1 billion in 2017. China became Israel’s largest source of imports in 2020, with $9.44 billion in goods.

Exports from Israel to China are still dwarfed in comparison to those to the EU/the United States. Israel exported approximately $36 billion worth of products to the European Union and the United States in 2017, whereas it exported only $4 billion to China during the same period.

China’s investment in Israeli startups tripled from 2012 to 2015, and Chinese investment in the Israeli tech sector reached a record $16.5 billion in 2016, driven by investments in Israeli medical, web, and cybersecurity startups.

Zhou Hui, China’s former economic and commercial attaché to Israel, confirmed in 2008 that his government encourages Chinese firms to come to Israel. That year, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) was awarded the contract for digging the Carmel Tunnel in Haifa as well as for the civil engineering aspect of the Red Line of Tel Aviv‘s light-rail project, which will connect Petah Tikvah with Bat Yam. The same year, ZPMC, a Chinese manufacturer of cranes and metal equipment, won the tender to supply seven bridge cranes to the Haifa port.

In May 2013, during his second visit to Beijing, IsraeliPrime Minister Netanyahu oversaw the signing of a $400 million trade agreement. Later, H.E. Gao Yanping, China’s Ambassador to Israel, wrote: “With the interdependence between countries deepening in the globalized world, China and Israel have a shared destiny. The closer our cooperation is, the more benefits will accrue for both our peoples, and the more contributions we will be able to make to regional stability, world peace and global prosperity.”

In December 2013, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Israel on a commerce trip to “pursue stronger cooperation between our two countries,” he told Netanyahu. The Chinese and Israeli economies “are highly complementary, and the mutually beneficial cooperation between us enjoys a very bright future.”

In 2015, the Israeli Radware company assisted China Railways in developing an online ticketing system that enabled it to determine seat availability and price options. China Railways Tunnel Group was awarded a $750 million project by Israel’s NTA Mass Transit System to build a subway in Tel Aviv.

Israeli and Chinese officials signed an agreement in January 2016 to expand cooperation in the fields of energy technology research and development and renewable energy resources.

Also in 2016, the world’s tallest and longest glass-bottomed bridge opened. The bridge is 1,000 feet above a ravine in Zhangjiajie National Park, in China’s Hunan province. The bridge cost $3.4 million and was designed by Israeli architect Haim Dotan.

Two companies based in China’s Shandong province announced in July 2017 the recruitment of 6,000 Chinese steel fixers, carpenters, tilers, and plasterers to be sent to Israel to work on construction projects. Later that year, Israeli and Chinese officials signed a $300 million trade agreement in Beijing, which will increase Israeli exports of environmentally friendly agricultural and energy technologies to China.

The fourth-annual China-Israel Investment Summit took place in South China’s Guangdong Province in 2018. More than 140 Israeli and 800 Chinese companies participated in forums on topics such as smart manufacturing, biomedicine, smart cities, biopharmaceuticals, the digital economy, and healthcare.

Chinese technology companies, such as Alibaba, are increasing their investments in Israel. In 2018, over 50 Chinese companies participated in financing Israeli technology startups. Offices representing many Chinese cities and provinces are opening offices in Israel, “supporting commercial activities between their localities and Israel, attracting new sources of Chinese capital and assisting Israeli companies in establishing operations in China.”

In late March 2020, as the number of coronavirus cases in Israel was escalating, Israeli genealogy and genetic testing company MyHeritage announced it would collaborate with China’s BGI Genomics to set up a coronavirus testing lab in Israel.

Academic Cooperation

In 2012, the Council for Higher Education of Israel initiated a program that provides grants for joint research via the Israel Science Foundation and the Natural Sciences Foundation of China. More than 1,000 scholarships have been awarded to students and postdoctoral researchers from China.

In September 2013, Tel Aviv University President Professor Joseph Klafter and Professor Zhang Zhi, President of Jiao-Tong University in Shanghai, China, signed an agreement to establish a special research center for Israel Studies at the Chinese university. The research center, which will address contemporary issues in the Middle East and Israel, is the first of its kind in China.

In October 2013, Chinese magnate Li Ka-Shing, among Asia’s wealthiest businessmen, donated $130 million to Israel’s Technion Institute of Technology as part of a joint venture with Shantou University to establish the Technion Guangdong Institute of Technology (TGIT). The gift was one of the largest ever to be given to an Israeli university. Additionally, it marked the first time a school from another country had been invited to establish an entirely new academic college in China. The Institute will foster creativity and collaboration between the two nations, and is expected to ring in a new era of cooperation in agricultural and consumer technology.

In May 2014, Tel Aviv University announced a partnership with Beijing’s Tsinghua University to invest $300 million in establishing the XIN Research Center, which will focus on researching early-stage and developed technologies in biotech, solar energy, water, and the environment.

In 2016, Ben-Gurion University and China’s largest university, Jilin University, signed a cooperative agreement to establish a joint research and development center for entrepreneurship and innovation.

The number of Chinese students attending Israeli universities has risen significantly. The University of Haifa boasted 200 Chinese students among its student body in 2016, a 100% increase from 2013 when the school had just 20 Chinese attendees. Most of these students were on exchange programs from the University of East China Normal University in Shanghai, which is Haifa’s sister city in China. During the 2016-2017 academic year, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology had 117 full-time Chinese students and 177 Chinese students enrolled in its summer engineering program.

A seminar with the topic of strengthening higher education cooperation between China and Israel was held on May 13, 2019, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, along with an exhibition on Chinese higher education. A second exhibition was held at the University of Haifa. Representatives from 27 Chinese universities participated. This was the first time the exhibition had been held in Israel. Both events were co-organized by the China Education Association for International Exchange and the Council for Higher Education of Israel.

Participants discussed the efforts to promote further student mobility and collaboration on scientific research with peers from seven Israeli universities. The hope is that more students will study in each country. In 2018, more than 1,000 Chinese students were enrolled in Israel, and about 500 Israeli students studied in China.

“These events demonstrate the close ties between the Chinese and Israeli academia and the high level of interest in further strengthening those ties,” said Yaffa Zilbershats, chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) of the Council for Higher Education of Israel.

The PBC also signed an agreement with China’s southwestern province of Sichuan, which will provide scholarships for Israeli students to study in summer programs in the Chinese province.

Tourism and Culture

In 2017, China became Israel’s fastest-growing source of tourists. That year, for the first time, the number of Chinese tourists surpassed 100,000, doubling the figure for 2015. A record 156,100 Chinese tourists visited the country in 2019, before the global pandemic.

The Israeli Ministry of Tourism presented certificates to 40 Chinese tour guides in November 2017, after they graduated from the Ministry’s first-ever training course for Mandarin-speaking guides. Tour leaders from travel agencies in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu participated in the course. The course was offered due to a shortage of Chinese tour guides as tourism from China increased.

Israel’s Chinese Cultural Center opened in November 2017, with the goals of further exposing Israelis to Chinese culture, facilitating cultural cooperation, and providing a welcoming place for Chinese tourists in the country. Situated in Tel Aviv’s business district, the 1,000-square-meter facility boasts a large multi-purpose hall, numerous meeting/training rooms, a library, and a multimedia room. Art performances, cultural exhibitions, academic seminars, and community events will take place at the facility.

Military Cooperation

China and Israel have developed close strategic military links with each other. Bilateral military relations have evolved from an initial Chinese policy of secret non-official ties to a close strategic partnership.

Israel has provided China with military assistance, expertise, and technology. According to a report from the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, “Israel ranks second only to Russia as a weapons system provider to China and as a conduit for sophisticated cutting edge military technology, followed by France and Germany.”

Israel sold technology to upgrade Chinese tanks and planes in the 1980s. Israel Aircraft Industries’ Lavi and UAV technology may also have been sold to China. Expertise in fitting western equipment in Soviet made hardware helped in modernization of Chinese army and air force, this way Chinese defense modernization complemented Israel’s need of cash to fund its domestic made high-tech weapons programs.

The U.S. worries that China may repackage advanced Israeli defense technologies for resale to America’s rivals and nations hostile to it throughout the world. Consequently, the United States has pressured Israel not to sell sophisticated equipment and technology to China. In 2000, for example, Israel was ready to sell China the Phalcon airborne early-warning radar system until the United States forced it to cancel the deal, costing Israel billions of dollars.

In 2018-19, another conflict arose over Israel’s decision to allow a Chinese company to manage Haifa Port. In 2015, Israel signed an agreement with the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) – a company in which the Chinese government has a majority stake – to upgrade and manage the port in Haifa. The U.S. Sixth Fleet and other naval vessels frequently use the port, and Washington is concerned that China will use its access to gather intelligence on American ships and other regional interests. The United States was pressuring Israel to cancel the deal.

Some Israelis thought the U.S. position was unfair and simplistic. One critic noted that the Chinese could conduct the same type of espionage activities the Americans feared by renting an apartment near the port. Others worry that China will steal Israeli technology and engage in industrial espionage. For example, Matan Vilnai, Israel’s former ambassador to China and an ex-deputy defense minister, criticized the arrangement because it created tension with the United States and also threatened Israel’s security. He said it was acceptable for Israel to deal with the Chinese on infrastructure projects “up to the point where there are Israeli security interests involved – and the classic example of this is the Haifa Port, because it is a national security asset.”

Regional Issues

The two countries do not agree on the future of relations between Israel and the Palestinians. China has historically supported the Palestinian’s position as reflected by Chinese President Xi Jinping's address to the Arab League in 2016, when he called for the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

China has also criticized Israel’s construction of settlements and the security barrier. After the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian election, China acknowledged Hamas as the legitimately elected political entity in the Gaza Strip despite Israeli and U.S. opposition.

Tuvia Gering noted that in 2021, China co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council decision to investigate Israeli “violations in the occupied Palestinian territory.” China also called on the UN Security Council to hold three emergency sessions on the Palestine-Israel conflict in one week.

While China is not known for having an anti-Semitism problem, some criticism of Israel’s Operation Guardian of the Walls in May 2021 was anti-Semitic. Gering mentions a China Global TV Network broadcast that claimed, for example, that “Jews dominate [US] finance, media, and Internet sectors.” The Chinese representative in the Palestinian Authority also blamed Israel for the violence and demanded an end to Israeli “hostilities.”

One significant disagreement between the two countries is over Iran. China has been a major trading partner and opposed sanctions imposed during negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. Israel would like to see China significantly reduce, if not end, its commercial relationship with Iran until it abandons its desire to build nuclear weapons. During his November 2021 call to President Xi Jinping, Herzog discussed Iran’s nuclear program.

Fighting COVID-19

Flights from China began arriving in early April 2020, carrying much-needed medical supplies to help Israel combat the coronavirus. The first shipment, carrying 20 tons of medical equipment, included more than 900,000 surgical masks and half a million protective suits.

Donations are coming from wealthy individuals in China, Chinese cities, and those who have a deep affection for Israel. Yossi Ben Shritrit, the strategic adviser to the Israeli consulate in Shanghai, said that people are inundating the diplomatic mission with medical materials for shipping to Tel Aviv. One shipment of protective suits, face shields, goggles, N95 masks, and surgical masks was being sent to Bar Ilan University, paid for by Chinese alumni, mostly those who had become academics after completing postdoctoral fellowships in Israel.

U.S. Pressures Israel

In the latest example of the United States pressuring Israel to curb ties with China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Jerusalem on May 13, 2020, his first overseas trip since the onset of the coronavirus, to deliver the message that Israel should stop all Chinese investment in Israel, either in high-tech companies or infrastructure. According to Breaking Defense, Israeli officials said Pompeo warned Israel “to stop any action that strengthens the Chinese Communist Party, even if that means canceling projects already planned.”

In an interview, Pompeo said, “We don’t want the Chinese Communist Party to have access to Israeli infrastructure and to Israeli communication systems – all of the things that put Israeli citizens at risk, and in turn – put the capacity for America to work alongside Israel on important projects at risk as well.”

Breaking Defense reported that Israel’s National Authority for Data Protection has already “barred China from building communications infrastructures of any kind in the country, and Israeli communications companies are not using Chinese components in their communications equipment.”

China is still involved in other sensitive projects, notably the construction of ports in Haifa and Ashdod. The U.S. has already expressed opposition to the former. According to Breaking Defense, Israeli security officials are also worried about China’s role in constructing a light train in Tel Aviv that will pass by Israel’s military headquarters.

In response to Pompeo’s warnings, Wang Yongjun, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy to Israel, said that “by the end of 2018, China’s investment in Israel only accounts for 0.4% of China’s investment across the world and 3% of the foreign investment flown into Israel.” He also asserted that “over the past 5 years, only 4% of the investment in Israeli hi-tech industries are from China, and only 3% of merger and acquisition deals among Israeli start-ups are with Chinese companies.” Yongjun asked rhetorically, “With such limited investment, how would Israel depend on China? And how would China buy up Israel?”

Following U.S. pressure against allowing China to participate in infrastructure projects, Israel decided to award a contract to an Israeli group to build the world’s largest desalination plant.

Despite pressure from the United States, Israel inaugurated a new port in Haifa in 2021 operated by China’s Shanghai International Port Group.

Like President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden has conveyed his concerns about Israel-China relations. In August 2021, CIA director William Burns expressed them to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

In October 2021, Israel refrained from signing a United Nations joint statement, approved by the United States and others, raising concern about China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims. Israel’s Foreign Ministry told The Times of Israel in a statement: “Israel expresses its concerns about the Uyghurs in various diplomatic tracks.” Earlier, in April, Israel succumbed to U.S. pressure and joined 41 other countries at the Human Rights Council that urged China to allow “immediate, meaningful, and unfettered access” to the region where the Uyghurs live.

In December 2021, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed Israel-China ties with Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. Israel said it would keep the Biden administration informed regarding deals with China and would reconsider them if the United States objected.

Jake Wallis Simons observed that some Israelis believe the United States is placing unfair pressure on Israel. “After all, China accounts for no more than 10 per cent of total foreign capital investments in Israel. That is far smaller than for other American allies.”

Post October 7

For years, Israel downplayed tensions with China, but in September 2025, Netanyahu accused Beijing of waging a “cognitive battle” against Israel, attacking its legitimacy on social media. “Countries like Qatar and China invest huge sums to influence Western media with an anti-Israel agenda, using bots, AI, and publications," he said. You open your phone, and you are bombarded with this, especially on TikTok. It is much more powerful than traditional media.”

Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack, China has openly aligned with Iran, blocked UN criticism of Hamas, accused Israel of “collective punishment,” and coordinated propaganda with Russia and Iran. Israeli forces have even uncovered Chinese-made weapons in Gaza.

Beijing’s influence extends into Israeli academia, with Confucius Institutes and joint ventures, such as the Technion’s China campus, providing access to Israeli research. Concerns over Chinese cyber intrusions add to the unease.

China has also pressured Israeli politicians and media, threatening MK Boaz Toporovsky over Taiwan and demanding restrictions on Taiwan’s diplomatic recognition.

Analysts say Beijing’s hostility stems less from Israel itself than from geopolitics: undermining U.S. influence in the Middle East while bolstering ties with Arab states and Iran.

In January 2026, a Chinese court sentenced Murad Nur al-Din, an Algerian national, to 11 years in prison for the attempted murder of an Israeli embassy employee who was stabbed in Beijing in October 2023, shortly after the October 7 attacks; the judge defined the case as an “international attempted murder,” ordered compensation for the Israeli victim, noted that the attacker refused to apologize and continued to attack Israel verbally. However, he did not classify the act as nationalist or anti-Semitic. He ruled that after serving his sentence, he would be deported, while Israel’s embassy formally requested that he not be released early due to a lack of remorse.

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Israel's International Relations: Israel-China Relations