| In terms of official diplomatic relations, the governments of the People's Republic of China and Israel contacted intermittently with each other from 1950 to 1956. However, they failed to reach any agreement on this issue during this rather long period.In the early days of the foundation of Israel, its government determined to adopt the "non-identification" policy concerning the national security and survival. Guided by such a policy, Israel proclaimed its recognition of the People's Republic of China on January 9,1950 in order to acquire Israel's acceptance by more states and to safeguard the interests of China's Jewish community. Nevertheless, China was less active on Sino-Israeli relations since Israel as a non-socialist country didn't enjoy a diplomatic priority in the China's foreign affairs. Although Israel was more initiative in establishing Sino-Israeli diplomatic relations, the Korean War broke out and interrupted this diplomatic process before Israel could take a further step. During the Korean War, Israel shifted to a pro-Western policy after it reevaluated its national interests and then moved into the camp that was involved in direct confrontation with the People's Republic of China. The period between 1953 and 1955 witnessed a development of Sino-Israeli relations as the Korean War came to an end in 1953 and the detente emerged to some extent. Under this circumstance, the Israeli trade delegation's official visit to China signaled the pinnacle of their relations in the 1950s. However, it was unlikely to establish diplomatic relations then because China made a breakthrough in its relations with the Arab world at the Bandung Conference and Israel was also under great pressure from the US side. In 1956, China stood firmly with Egypt and against Israel during the Suez Crisis, which marked that nothing had resulted from diplomatic contacts between Israel and China in the 1950s.To summarize, against the international backdrop in the 1950s, support from the US to Israel bore a strategic significance to Israel's survival, as Arab countries were antagonistic towards Israel. Thus taking the US hostile attitude towards China intoaccount, Israel couldn't establish diplomatic relations with China at that time. On the other hand, the understanding and support from the Arab countries contemporarily played a strategic role in the development of relations between China and foreign countries since the US held a hostile attitude to China. Given the impossibility to develop its relations with both Israel and Arab world at the same time, it was the best choice for China to choose Arab countries under such circumstance. Therefore, it was actually unlikely for China and Israel to establish diplomatic relations in the early 1950s, not to mention "missing of a golden chance". |
