export Photo:VCG

Ties between China and Israel have strengthened, with bilateral trade and economic cooperation continuing to grow over the past two years, despite the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and there remains great potential for future cooperation, as the two countries mark 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-Israel diplomatic relations.

China and Israel are developing more interest in each other, especially when it comes to advanced technology, and the cooperation won't be affected by external interferences, experts and industry watchers told the Global Times on Monday.

Israeli imports from China, excluding diamonds, amounted to $13.19 billion in 2021, an increase of 39.6 percent year-on-year, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.

Israeli exports to China rose 4.4 percent in 2021 to $4.93 billion.

China has become Israel's largest trading partner in Asia and the third-largest in the world. 

When the two countries established diplomatic ties three decades ago, bilateral trade was only $50 million, but by 2021 it had jumped to $22.8 billion, reflecting the resilience and potential of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Chinese Ambassador to Israel Cai Run said in a recent interview with the Xinhua News Agency.

Li Jianwei, a research fellow at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday that both China and Israel have taken effective COVID-19 control and prevention measures, laying a good foundation for economic recovery and bilateral exchanges.

"The strong complementarity of China-Israel cooperative ties served as the booster for growth against headwinds over the past two years," Li said, noting that both countries consider innovative cooperation around high technologies a promising area with huge growth potential.
 
Israel has advantages in such cutting-edge sectors as advanced manufacturing, life sciences and new energy, while China offers huge scope for Israeli core technologies to give full play to their advantages. Chinese companies have participated in infrastructure construction in Israel, and many innovative Israeli companies operate in China. 

More Israeli tech start-ups have begun seeking opportunities in the Chinese market instead of only focusing on their traditional choices like the US and Europe, Benjamin Peng, a partner at Cukierman & Co Investment House, an Israeli investment bank, told the Global Times on Monday.

"Israeli businessmen are very pragmatic, and they won't put all their eggs in one basket, especially when now the US and Europe are facing looming economic bubbles," Peng noted.