There have been reports of China trying to hack foreign research for arriving at a coronavirus cure.
During an official visit of Israeli government officials and Israeli media, including The Jerusalem Post, to China in July 2019, the atmosphere was full of celebration because of a skyrocketing partnership. How a year can change things. In one year, after multiple crises with corona, Hong Kong and 5G spying allegations – the carefully balanced relations are no longer recognizable. Last year, Jerusalem was thrilled to be doing NIS 15 billion in trade with Beijing. Twenty years earlier, Israel had to wade through an embarrassing diplomatic mess when the US strong-armed Israel into backing out of a done-deal advanced radar sale to China. But as of last year, Israel had found a way to walk the tightrope of developing a strong relationship with the Chinese, while still holding tight to its main alliance with the US. During last year’s China visit, officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry permitted the Post to ask some tough questions about China’s relationship with Iran and allegations of Chinese backdoor spying on countries it provides infrastructure to. But their clear emphasis was on supporting the skyrocketing relationship, and the Chinese seemed astonishingly open to a range of debates, including interest in discussing religious differences and diversity. Walking between the raindrops seemed possible. To be clear there were tensions. Yet even through years of US-China trade wars, Israel managed to keep its head down and reap the positives of a new thriving relationship with Beijing. Despite some general US threats about removing its navy from Israel’s Haifa port if Jerusalem allowed the Chinese to build and operate the new port around Haifa, Jerusalem did not cancel the deal, sufficing with promises to be more careful about US interests in future deals. There was a distant conflict between the US and China over whether Israel would use Chinese technology for a future 5G communications network, but this could also be papered over – or so it seemed.
