- Title: CHINA: Israel seeks to strengthen military ties with Beijing
- Date: 15th June 2011
- Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JUNE 14, 2011) (REUTERS) ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER EHUD BARAK ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE JOURNALISTS LISTENING NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER EHUD BARAK SAYING: "We are looking for ways to go, to look into areas like anti-terror activities. We gathered a lot of experience in this arena unfortunately, because
- Embargoed: 30th June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China, China
- Country: China
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVABJ3MTGBIPSBBSWL8ZBR5KZ0DN
- Story Text: Israel's defence minister said on Tuesday (June 14) his government wanted to strengthen military ties with China.
During a visit to Beijing, Ehud Barak held meetings with his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie and vice premier Li Keqiang, but he didn't elaborate on the details of their discussions.
"We are looking for ways to go, to look into areas like anti-terror activities. We gathered a lot of experience in this arena unfortunately, because we are surrounded by terrorists. We see a lot that could be done. It is no secret that the world is not a simple place to live in, we have a special relationship with the United States, it is well known. We are looking for, to have a good relationship with all important players, and clearly China is an extremely important player," Barak told reporters in Beijing.
China is a top Israeli trading partner and relations between the two countries have been generally good, although strained at times.
In 2000, Israel, under United States pressure, suspended the sale to Beijing of four 250 million U.S. Dollar advanced early warning Phalcon aircraft.
Then, in 2006, China upset Israel by inviting the foreign minister from the Palestinian Hamas government, boycotted by Israel and the West, to attend a conference in Beijing.
On Tuesday, Barak reaffirmed Israel's opposition to any bid to win U.N. recognition of Palestinian statehood and said only direct negotiations could restart the stalled peace process.
"Now we are trying with Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and Fayyad. I feel that they are sincere and I think it is always better to solve such a complicated issue while there are two sides and we still control the area, we have to give away some of the area. It will be much more productive to try to do it through mutual agreement. That is what we try to convince now the Americans and the Russians, and Ban Ki-moon and the Europeans," the Israeli defence minister said.
The Palestinians currently have the status of U.N. observers without voting rights but are hoping that at September's General Assembly they can persuade other nations to accept them as a sovereign member.
Expressing other regional concerns in the Middle East, Barak called on the international community to tighten sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
"We feel there is a need to tighten urgently the sanctions on Iran and make sure that they are working and they put the leadership on the dilemma, either to face the whole world sanctions or to comply with the demands of the IAEA in Vienna, and the world community and stop their nuclear military efforts," he said.
There has been persistent speculation in recent years that Israel may take military action against nuclear facilities in Iran, whose atomic activities the Jewish state sees as a threat.
Iran denies accusations it is developing nuclear weapons and says its programme is aimed at generating electrical power. Like other countries in the Middle East, it says the focus should be on Israel over its own presumed nuclear arsenal.
Commenting on the ongoing unrest in Syria, the Israeli defence minister said President Bashar al-Assad's use of force against his own people was precipitating his own downfall.
"Beyond certain point, when he ended up killing many many hundreds of his people, in many places and it doesn't stop and use more and more force and now the refugees are fleeing to Turkey out of all places. Lucky for us, they don't flee to Israel. But I feel that Bashar lost his legitimacy. So probably he will survive, but even if he survives, he will be weaker. Now it is a pity, but that is reality," Barak said.
Israeli officials have previously kept quiet about the uprising in Syria and local media reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers not to discuss the matter in public to avoid accusations of interference.
Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed since the start of the uprising. One group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.
Barak, who served as prime minister of Israel during the Phalcon dispute, arrived in the Chinese capital late on Saturday (June 11), and is scheduled to fly to Shanghai later on Tuesday. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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