Time to Leave the CCP and Choose Taiwan: Israeli National Security Official

Chinese Communist Regime uses Israeli Military Technology to expand its global influence

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) at a signing ceremony in Beijing, China, on March 20, 2017. Lintao Zhang/Pool/Getty Images

Israel is facing a crossroads in moving away from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and enhancing its relationship with Taiwan, as Jacob Nagel and Mark Dubowitz recently suggested in an article published in The Jerusalem Post on August 9.

Titled “Time for Israel to pivot away from Beijing,” the article said Israel should send an explicit signal that it will stand firm with the United States even though it cannot play a direct role in the U.S.-China conflict.

The political analysis’ co-authors are Jacob Nagel, who had long served as Israel’s national security advisor, and Mark Dubowitz, chief executive of Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington D.C-based think tank.

“This is also the right time to re-evaluate Israel’s relations with Taiwan,” said the authors, adding that democracies should be more cooperative with each other in the face of attacks by dangerous dictators.

Israel established diplomatic relations with the Chinese Communist regime in 1992, and after the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996, it sold sensitive military weapons to the CCP for a decade, which triggered a political crisis with the United States until the Israeli Defence Ministry restricted the export of military technology to China.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) during a meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest house on Dec. 31, 2019 in Beijing, China. Noel Celis - Pool/Getty Images

CCP’s Intentions Toward Iran and Israel

China plans to invest $400 billion in Iran over the next 25 years in exchange for Iranian oil and further military connection, in a bid to lessen U.S. sanctions against Iran, according to the New York Times on March 29, 2021.

These funds would help Iran to develop and prop up its defense industry and nuclear and ballistic missiles, which would promote terrorist groups to pose a greater threat to Israel and the world. “For Israel, this deal should be another alarming wake-up call: Beijing is not a friend. It is time to pivot away from Beijing,” the article said.

“With Beijing backing Israel’s most dangerous enemies in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel sees clearly now that it must support its best friend and to keep a distance from its best friend’s biggest rival,” the article stressed.

On July 14, a White House senior admin official stated that U.S. President Joe Biden and the Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid would sign a new joint statement reaffirming the unbreakable bond and expanding the longstanding security relationship between the two powers, saying the United States commits to “never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon and to address Iran’s destabilizing activities, particularly threats to Israel.”

US Thwarts Israeli High Tech Flowing to CCP

The article listed the CCP’s moves that have been looking to replace the UnitedStates as the hegemon of the Indo-Pacific region in recent years.

Examples include militarization in the South China Sea, massive theft of intellectual property from various countries, and egregious human rights violations.

As Israel’s largest trading partner, China has added key Israeli infrastructures to its Belt and Road Initiative—a CCP influence expansion policy—including some important military facilities, major corporations, and food suppliers.

US President Joe Biden (L) and Israel's Prime Minister Yair Lapid, take part in a virtual meeting with leaders of the I2U2 group, which includes, the US, Israel, India, and the United Arab Emirates, at a hotel in Jerusalem, on July 14, 2022. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

“The Chinese influence in Israel is dangerous, especially with regard to strategic infrastructure and investments in large companies. Legislation is needed to oversee Chinese investment,” Nadav Argaman, former head of security service, warned in a private lecture, cited Calcalistech, an Israeli financial media, in an article.

The CCP repeatedly acknowledged that Israel’s high-technology sector and other major world academic institutions are its vital technology sources, envying Israel’s strengths in artificial intelligence, hypersonic missile technology, autonomous driving, robotics, and big data, all areas the U.S. Department of Defense considers sensitive high-tech.

Another reason Israel needs to stay away from the CCP is that U.S. military, political, and economic leadership is essential to Israel’s security while the CCP is using Israeli technologies to attack and erode the U.S. leadership, which will harm the Israel-U.S. relations, the article said.

President Joe Biden’s latest visit to Israel was to sever ties between CCP and Israeli technology companies and to prevent more Western tech from falling into the hands of the CCP and being used for military purposes, according to an article by Sarah Zheng and Coco Liu in Bloomberg on July 12.

Ally with Taiwan

Compared to China, Taiwan is not so big with its gross economic output of $800 billion and ranking twenty-second in the world, but it has a free market system, sound legal system, and intellectual property protection, which cannot be found in mainland China, the article said.

The authors believe that Israeli academics and technology companies should deepen their cooperation with Taiwan.

If Israeli companies can gain something in China for a short period of time, they will soon find their business and technology stolen from the Chinese authorities, the article indicated.

In addition, allying with Taiwan is the U.S stance.

Israel has no alternative but to choose to stand with the United States, and this must be reflected in official policy and action, said the article.