Israeli businesses remain eager for Chinese market

Bilateral business activities between China and Israel have been making progress despite the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting normal communications.

The close business ties between China and Israel, particularly in the high-tech sector, won’t be dented by the US, business representatives and experts told the Global Times.

Addressing a virtual American Jewish Committee (AJC) conference on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo once again made absurd comments on China, saying China is “a growing challenge to the US and Israel,” according to the Jerusalem Post.

Regardless of external chaos, Israeli firms are betting on positive economic ties between China and Israel.

Eli Assoolin, CEO and co-founder of Israeli start-up Newsight Imaging, told the Global Times on Monday that the company is not experiencing any influence from the US. “No worldwide politics are stopping us,” Assoolin said.

“Israel is an independent country and its government is committed to Israeli civilians and residents as first priority. Personally, I do not see a scenario in which Israel is forced to change its attitude to China,” said Assoolin, who believes positive China-Israel relations will continue for a long time.

As a world-renowned country of innovation with more than 6,000 high-tech start-ups and over 350 research and development (R&D) centers funded by multinational companies, Israel has been attractive to Chinese investment over recent years.

Big Chinese firms including Ping An, Alibaba, Baidu and Lenovo Group have significantly invested in many Israeli companies and venture capital funds.

Zhou Rong, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Tuesday that Israel holds a critical position for the US to the extent that the US is reluctant to harm Israel’s interests, which include the latter’s cooperation with China.

“It is the US which is wooing Israel rather than the other way around, therefore the Israeli side won’t care too much about the US’ concerns,” said Zhou.