From early contacts to support for the PLO: history of China-Israel relations
China marked 50 years since the death of Mao Zedong on September 9. During his rule, Beijing’s relations with Israel evolved from early contacts and discussions of possible diplomatic ties to support for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), The Jerusalem Post reports.
On January 9, 1950, Israel formally recognized the government of the People’s Republic of China as the legitimate government of China, becoming the first country in the Middle East to do so. In the 1950s, the sides discussed trade and the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations, while Chinese officials declared friendship with Israel and the Jewish people.
Contacts in the 1950s
In late 1953, Israeli diplomat David Hacohen in Rangoon began negotiations with China’s ambassador to Burma, Yao Zhongming. He later met with Chinese Premier and Foreign Minister Zhou Enlai, who was passing through Rangoon after the 1954 Geneva Conference.
In early 1955, Hacohen headed an Israeli commercial delegation that spent several weeks in China and held talks in Beijing. China’s deputy trade minister told the delegation that the Chinese people and government were great friends of Israel and the Jewish people. At the same time, Israel did not rush to establish full-fledged relations, considering the importance of its ties with the United States.
Relations began to change after the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in April 1955, to which Israel was not admitted because of objections from Arab participants. An additional factor was Israel’s participation alongside the United Kingdom and France in the 1956 Suez Crisis against Egypt led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
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Beijing and the Palestinian movement
In March 1965, Ahmad Shukeiri, chairman of the newly established PLO, arrived in Beijing at the head of a Palestinian delegation and met with Mao Zedong and representatives of the Chinese leadership. During the conversation, Mao called Israel and Taiwan bases of imperialism in Asia, viewing them as strongholds supported by the West.
China subsequently provided Palestinian organizations with money, small arms, military training and professional assistance. In the late 1960s, small groups of representatives of Palestinian factions underwent guerrilla warfare training in China and studied Maoist political doctrine.
A telegram after the earthquake
Despite tensions in relations, Israel voted in October 1971 for UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. It transferred China’s seat at the UN to the People’s Republic of China and expelled the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek. Seventy-six states voted for the resolution.
After the Tangshan earthquake on July 28, 1976, which claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sent a telegram to Hua Guofeng, head of the PRC government, expressing condolences and offering medical and other assistance. Beijing returned the telegram, explaining this by the absence of diplomatic relations. Mao Zedong died on September 9, 1976, and full diplomatic relations between China and Israel were established on January 24, 1992.
