Israel has issued an unusually strong rebuke to China over its decision to invite a senior Hamas minister to attend a Sino-Arab conference in Beijing later this month.
Chen Yonglong, Chinese ambassador, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to be told that the invitation to Mahmoud Zahar, Palestinian Authority foreign minister, granted legitimacy to the “Hamas terrorist government”.
In a veiled threat of further action, Raphael Schutz, the ministry’s deputy director-general, also told Mr Chen that Israel could not accept that diplomats accredited to it and residing in its territory maintained contact with “terrorist elements”, a reference to Mr Chen’s meetings with Hamas officials in Gaza.
Mr Chen was also handed a diplomatic note summarising Israel’s verbal protest.
The diplomatic spat marked a rare setback in generally good relations between the two countries, whose co-operation has extended to often controversial weapons deals since diplomatic relations were established in 1992.
As recently as Tuesday, the day before the Chinese government issued the invitation, Ehud Olmert, Israeli prime minister, lauded the importance of bilateral relations at a meeting with Li Yuanchao, visiting Jiangsu province Communist party chief.
China has joined other governments in urging Hamas to recognise Israel, abandon violence and accept existing agreements entered into by the PA. However, Zhai Jun, head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Middle East department, said this week that Beijing recognised the Palestinian people’s democratic choice.
Mr Zahar is among 23 Arab ministers invited to the Sino-Arab co-operation forum.
Mr Chen met Mr Zahar in Gaza in early April shortly after the Hamas-led government took office. The meeting failed to provoke a diplomatic crisis at the time, particularly after Beijing denied a statement by the Palestinian minister that he had been invited to China.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry official said Israel took the issue of the Chinese invitation even more seriously than it did Russia’s decision to hold talks earlier this year with Hamas leaders and Sweden’s recent granting of a visa to a senior Hamas official.
The Sino-Arab relationship was founded largely on co-operation in the armaments field, with Israel often at odds with its ally the US over transferring military technology to the Chinese without the Pentagon’s knowledge.
Washington’s concerns were the focus of a House of Representatives subcommittee report that noted in 1999 that Israel had given China significant technology co-operation in aircraft and missile development. The US subsequently succeeded in freezing an Israeli contract to supply the Phalcon early-warning radar system to China.
More recently, China-Israel trade has developed in the civilian sector, and telecoms executives from both sides are due to visit each other’s country for meetings later this year.
On the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme, which is likely to top the agenda in talks next week between Mr Olmert and President George W. Bush, Israel backs Washington’s tough diplomatic stance in the current deadlock with China and Russia at the United Nations over sanctions against Tehran.
