SIIS President Yang Jiemian’s Opening Remarks at the Seminar
in Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Establishment of China-Israel Diplomatic Relations

February 13th, 2012
 

Dear Amb. Yang Fuchang,
Dear Amb. Wang Shijie
Dear Amb. Hua Liming
Dear Consul- General Jackie Eldan,
Distinguished Scholars:

It was almost at the same time that the People’s Republic of China and the state of Israel were founded. But for reasons known to all, it was not until January 24, 1992, China and Israel signed the communiqué on establishing diplomatic relations though Israel was actually the first Middle East country that had formally recognized the People’s Republic of China shortly after its founding.

It was a historic event both for China and for Israel. By establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, China had fulfilled its task to establish diplomatic relations with all the major Middle East countries, and the great event had paved the way for China to play a bigger role in major Middle East issues.

For Israel, it meant the ending of its Odyssey to China, as the title of one famous book Israel’s China Odyssey describes. The state of Israel finally won the recognition of all the permanent members of the UN Security Council and one-fifth of the world population.

Here, I would like to express our special thanks to those who had contributed to this great event including Amb. Yang Fuchang. Amb. Yang is with us today.

The last twenty years have witnessed rapid progress in China-Israel relations. Our political relations have remained sound. In addition to Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s visit to Israel in 2000, quite a number of Chinese high officials have visited Israel. On Israeli side, Presidents Moshe Katsav, Simon Peres and Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Olmert are among the top leaders who have ever visited China.

China-Israel cooperation in economic and technologic areas benefits the people of both nations. In 2005, Israel recognized China’s full market economy status. In 2010, China-Israel bilateral trade amounted to $7.65 billion. Many farmers in north-western part of China especially benefited a lot from dripping technology as part of the cooperation between the two in science and technology. And China has become one of the major sources of Israel’s tourists especially after China listed Israel as the tourist destination in June 2005.

Our human and culture exchanges have also increased significantly. Today, we have approximately 100 students studying in each other’s country annually. We set up Confucius Institute in Tel Aviv University in 2007. During the World Expo Shanghai 2010, Israel’s pavilion is one of the most popular with Chinese visitors. It was also the first time that Israel had built its national pavilion in its expo history.

The city of Shanghai, inclusive as it is, is also very special for the relations between Chinese and Jews. In the 1930s, the city of Shanghai harbored tens of thousands of Jewish refugees after Mr.Ho Fengshan, a Chinese diplomat in Vienna, issued visas for them while diplomats of many other countries refused to do so. Upon arriving in Shanghai, they were friendly and kindly treated by local people until they left. Till today, a lot of Jews having that experience are still cherishing the bitter but warm memories of their lives in Shanghai.

Shanghai Institutes for International Studies always attaches great importance to China-Israel relations, and is strongly committed to contributing to the development of our bilateral relations. For many years, we have had regular cooperation with Israeli institutions like the Truman Institute and National Institute for Security Studies (NISS), and regular visits to Israel. Two of our colleagues, Dr. Ye Qing, currently Director of the Center for West Asian and African Studies and Dr. Jin Liangxiang, both had been studying in Truman Institute for an academic year. Their stay in Israel had benefited their own academic careers and the research of the Institutes as a whole.

And the last visit of SIIS delegation to Israel headed by one of our Vice Presidents was only months away. Here, I would like to express thanks to the help Israeli Consulate General in Shanghai gave us for the visit. As Consul General Eldan knows, every year the SIIS receives Israeli delegations for sharing views on the international affairs.

Currently, the Middle East is witnessing great changes, which will have far reaching implications on both internal structures of Arab countries and regional power structures as well. We are committed to working for peace and stability of the region and our national interests as well. We expect further and closer engagement and cooperation with our Israeli friends.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Chinese and Jews are both great peoples with ancient civilizations and modern adaptability, and have been admiring each other. We sincerely hope that our friendship will flourish forever.

I am looking forward to a very stimulating and rewarding discussion this morning and further academic exchanges with our Israeli counterparts.

Thank you very much for your attention!

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