This article appears in the Jerusalem Post of Sunday, 12 December 2021
On 6 December US intelligence warned that Beijing intends to set up a permanent military base on the coast of Equatorial Guinea, giving it an Atlantic naval capability opposite the US. The announcement made sense of the news, the same day, that the US has decided its diplomats will boycott the 2022 Beijing winter Olympics – officially in protest at China’s poor human rights record.
As at December 2021 no
less than 140 countries, ranging from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, have signed a
formal memorandum of understanding with China, and joined its Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI). Israel, heavily
involved with Chinese companies and government agencies across a wide range of
projects, has not. But Sino-Israeli
connections are now so extensive that to many it seems only a matter of time
before they too are formalized. There
are some good reasons why this might be a step too far.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, adopted by the Chinese
government in 2013, is the centre-piece of President Xi Jinping’s foreign
policy. Originally dubbed One Belt One
Road (OBOR), Belt and Road incorporates a heady vision of massive Chinese
investment, and thus in-depth involvement, in countries across Asia, Africa and
the Middle East. Belt and Road, considered
by some the largest infrastructure and investment project in history, is
regarded by others as a Machiavellian plan to achieve eventual Chinese world
domination.
The US and the UK regard
China’s expanding global influence as of great concern. In November 2020 the US Secretary of State’s
office published a 72-page document which it called: “The Elements of the China
Challenge”. Amid seven examples of what
the authors call China’s “quest for preeminence in world affairs”, they cite
the Belt and Road initiative. The idea,
they believe, is to expand foreign markets for Chinese companies, thus drawing
nations, and particularly their political and economic elites, into Beijing’s
geopolitical orbit. Sometimes BRI projects involve 50- to 100-year
relationships that confer power long-term to China over key parts of the host
country’s infrastructure.
On December 1, in his
first public address since becoming chief of MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence
service made famous in the James Bond films, Richard Moore declared that China
was the agency’s “single greatest priority”.
He cited Beijing’s large-scale espionage activities in the UK, but also China’s
carefully coordinated plan to lure poor countries into what Moore termed “debt
and data traps”, a policy designed to consolidate Chinese influence across the
globe.
Israel is strategically located at the junction of three continents – Europe, Asia and Africa – which perhaps explains China’s particular interest in developing projects in Israel. In reviving the historic “Silk Road”, China acknowledges Israel’s potential for connecting China to the west. (“Belt” refers to these ancient overland trade routes; “Road” to new Indo-Pacific sea routes).
Washington has certainly indicated misgivings, for example about the new $1.7 billion Haifa port facility built by one Chinese company, to be operated for the next 25 years by another, the Shanghai International Port Group. The idea of Israel cancelling that operating contract has been mooted. Other recent major deals inside Israel include Chinese companies winning the contract to construct parts of the Tel Aviv Light Rail, a $2 billion tender to build the “Med-Red” railway linking Ashdod port with Eilat, and donations of $130 million and $300 million respectively for a Technion research centre and a joint research facility between Tel Aviv and Tsinghua universities. China has also recently acquired a $1 billion controlling stake in Israel's iconic Tnuva dairy company. All of which hands China considerable influence over Israel’s internal development.
The question for Israel
is how far it should go in embracing China as a business partner, given
American suspicions about China’s true motives. Are all such Chinese
investments pieces in a vast jigsaw designed to secure China unassailable political
and economic global supremacy?
The West is losing
former firm alliances. Pakistan, once a
key Western ally in the war on terror, has become a Chinese client state, following
the billions of dollars Islamabad has received for supporting Belt and Road. When Sri Lanka failed to repay Chinese loans
worth $1.3 million, it was forced to hand over a key southern port, Hambantota. On both the east and west coasts of Africa,
China in involved in multi-billion dollar construction projects.
Of particular concern is
Beijing’s deepening involvement in Nigeria, a Commonwealth country that has
seen its historic ties to Britain superseded by growing dependence on Chinese
riches. Beijing has invested around $10 billion in developing Nigeria’s
transport infrastructure. Leading
politician, Dr Bukola Saraki, said: “There is a real concern that, without
a concerted effort to change this trajectory, our long-term future will lie
with China rather than democratic allies like the UK.”
There is a growing recognition
by both the US and the UK that more needs to be done to safeguard long-standing
alliances against the Chinese marauder.
While many nations continue to succumb to the lure of Chinese gold,
giving more weight to immediate benefits than to longer-term dangers, Israel
would do well to take the longer view and avoid signing up formally to Belt and
Road. A cooling of Sino-Israeli economic
collaboration might also be advisable.
The well-known warning
by the Roman poet Virgil comes to mind: “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.”
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