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The Chinese Challenge to the U.S.-Israel Relationship

(Wall Street Journal) Douglas J. Feith - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday in Jerusalem that further Israeli economic linkage with China will hurt relations with the U.S. Pushback against hostile Chinese actions has intensified in the Trump period and gained bipartisan support. In 2005, Israel terminated all of its defense trade with China. But even without military sales, China has grown to become Israel's second-largest trading partner, after the U.S. In Israel, Chinese firms have been responsible for expanding the port in Ashdod and constructing the Tel Aviv light-rail system and the tunnels under Haifa's Mt. Carmel. A Chinese company has a contract to operate a new container terminal at Haifa port beginning in 2021. With ample enemies in their immediate vicinity, Israelis haven't historically looked at China as a national-security problem. But the world is changing. Israel should understand how U.S. national-security officials perceive China - and how its entanglements with China will affect one of its prime strategic assets: its U.S. alliance. The writer, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, served as U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, 2001-05.
2020-05-18 00:00:00
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