Netanyahu in China to Celebrate 25 Years of Diplomatic Relations, Boost Ties

Netanyahu is leading the largest-ever Israeli delegation to China, celebrating 25 years of diplomatic ties.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrived in China on Sunday together with a large Israeli delegation on a three-day official visit.

The visit follows an invitation by Chinese President Xi Jinping and marks 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Netanyahu is slated to meet with the Chinese president and with his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang.

The visit highlights the continued strengthening of ties, including increased Israeli exports to China, attracting Chinese investments in Israel, and enhanced industrial and research cooperation between Chinese and Israeli companies.

A series of economic agreements will also be signed.

Israel and China will sign cooperation agreements in aviation, education, science, health and environmental protection as well as bringing Chinese construction workers to Israel and a multi-year plan for a task force on strengthening bilateral economic ties.

Netanyahu is also expected to meet with the leaders of China’s largest corporations, each with an annual turnover of tens of billions of dollars.

Doing Business with the World’s Second-Largest Economy

Netanyahu is accompanied by a senior delegation of some 70 Israeli businesspeople from the various industries and companies active in China as well as from companies interested in penetrating the Chinese market. This is the largest-ever Israeli business delegation to arrive in the Chinese capital.

Delegation members will attend a business forum with over 500 invited guests, to be chaired by the prime minister.

Mutual trade, which stood at $50 million when relations were initially established, has now reached more than $11 billion. China is Israel’s third-largest trade partner in the world and its largest partner in Asia; more than a third of hi-tech investments in Israel during the past year came from China. Negotiations have begun on a free-trade agreement that will significantly increase these numbers.

Netanyahu will also attend the third joint Israel-China innovation conference. The first such event was held in China in 2015; the second took place last year in Israel with the attendance of Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong.

“Israel is a country in high demand, as you can see from my past visits to Washington, Moscow and other countries, and now China,” Netanyahu said before taking off for Beijing.

By: United with Israel Staff