Israel Matzav

Did they mean to challenge China or was this amateurish bumbling?

YNet is reporting this morning that the Chinese government is furious over a trip to Taiwan by five Israeli MK's, which included meetings with ministers in the Taiwanese government.

Five Knesset Members caused a diplomatic feud between Israel and China. China is furious because MKs David Azoulay, Yitzhak Vaknin and Abraham Michaeli from Shas, along with Nissan Slomiansky (National Union-NRP) and David Tal (Kadima) visited in Taiwan.

Here's the first oddity about this visit: four of the five MK's involved are Haredi (Tal was a member of Shas who defected to Kadima Achora). What interest do Haredi MK's have in China? That's seemingly out of their league....

After the Chinese found out the five were in Taiwan, the Chinese Ambassador in Israel Chen Yonglong asked MK Dani Yatom (Labor) for an urgent meeting with him since he is the head of the union for Sino-Israel relations.

The Chinese ambassador said in the meeting that China is angry over the MKs visit in Taiwan, which China has no diplomatic relations with. In response, Yatom promised to inquire on the matter.

If the government cannot prevent Balad MK's from visiting Syria - which is a sworn enemy - it cannot really prevent other MK's from visiting Taiwan, can it?

At the end of the meeting, the Chinese ambassador asked for a guarantee that the MKs will not meet with government ministers in Taiwan. “If the event happens again, that matter will be viewed as critical,” said the ambassador. [I think there is an error in the YNet article, because as is clear from the next paragraph, the MK's did meet with ministers in Taiwan. CiJ]

During their visit, the MKs met with ministers in Taiwan, the Israeli ambassador and a local rabbi. MK Tal said in response to the diplomatic crisis that was caused: “Tell the Chinese they should not worry about a few people from Shas. We kept a low profile. We are also willing to hold a reconciliation meeting and even act as mediators.”

According to the MKs, the five received a briefing from the Foreign Ministry before they left for Taiwan, which complicated the matter even more.

Forgive me for speculating about this - I don't think this trip was so innocent. I think it was designed to send several messages to the Chinese.

First, in the recent war in Lebanon, China was playing both sides of the table. It was trading weapons for Arab oil and using the profits to buy Israeli technology. This might have been in China's interest, but it was not in Israel's interest.

Second, Israel owes the United States big time. In the recent war in Lebanon, Israel's only backers were the United States and Britain Tony Blair. The United States, for its own reasons, is not thrilled with Israel selling arms to China. It was also not thrilled with Israel's performance in Lebanon. And Tony Blair is under a lot of pressure at home to distance himself and the British government from Israel. Slapping China in the face is a great - and relatively cheap - way for Israel to shore up its alliance with the United States, while accomplishing two other things that are in its own interest: warning China that its duplicity in the Middle East has a price, and warning China that its blocking of sanctions against Iran for the latter's nuclear activities will have consequences for its interests in the Middle East.

Third, by sending (and given the reference to a foreign ministry briefing, I believe these MK's were sent by Israel) a group of MK's to Taiwan who are not known to be foreign policy afficiandos (the three Shas MK's and David Tal are most interested in domestic economic issues, while I doubt Slomiansky has ever had anything to do with Israeli foreign policy except as it affects Judea, Samaria and Gaza), China is being told that this is only a warning, and if it doesn't change its behavior, there is more that can be done to escalate the situation. If MK's like Bibi Netanyahu, Silvan Shalom and Shimon Peres had been involved, the message would have been much harsher. That may be the next step.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:39 AM