Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Iranian nuclear ambitions, bilateral accords and the role played by the two countries on the international chess board: these are the main themes of an official trip to China by Ehud Olmert, Israeli Prime Minister, who reached Beijing today for a three-day visit.
The trip marks 15 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries and is the last leg of a series of visits by Olmert to the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The Israeli premier has already held discussions with Great Britain, Russia, Frances and the United States about Iran, which it accuses of seeking to perfect a nuclear bomb under cover of a civil energy programme.
Despite the success achieved in the first four discussions, Israeli sources say Olmert “does not expect much from Beijing” that is hardly likely to agree to vote in favour of sanctions against Teheran. Right now, Iran is the main oil and gas supplier for Chinese industries that are forever searching for energy sources. All the same, “China, too, has no interest in seeing another nation with a nuclear bomb: it is possible that agreement is reached about the matter.”
As regards economic ties between the two nations, which in 2005 reached a value of 3 billion dollars, talks have been scheduled with the Chinese Economy Minister Bo Xilai. Prof. Aron Shai, lecturer at Tel Aviv University, said: “Trade could increase much more especially if Israel decides to start selling arms to China again,” said Aron Shai, chair professor of East Asian Affairs at Tel Aviv University.
The middle eastern state was forced by US pressure to stop supplying high-technology arms to the Chinese army. Washington intervened in 2000 and 2005 to block the delivery of military jets and carrier planes, fearing they could be used by Beijing against Taiwan.
On Olmert’s agenda are meetings with President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, and a good part of the Chinese leadership. Today’s first appointment is a visit to a farm built with Israeli technology on the outskirts of the capital. In the afternoon, the guest will visit the Olympic village constructed in Beijing.
Before winding up his visit – the first as president but the second in less than three years – Olmert will be accompanied to historic sites of the country like the Forbidden City and the Great Wall.
Before leaving Israel, the premier told an Israeli daily that he had “an important spiritual tie with China that for me is not just another country - it is an important part of my family history." Olmert’s parents fled Russian persecution against the Jewish community and found refuge in the north-eastern Chinese city of Harbin in the early 1900s.
