China warns "Israel" against harming relations due to US pressure
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The rift between Beijing and "Tel Aviv" is growing larger due to Washington's push for "Israel" to condemn Chinese human rights practices.
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Chinese flags flying on the Huangpu river promenade in Shanghai, China. (RF)
Israeli officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have revealed to Israeli media outlet Walla! News that last week, China warned "Israel" not to damage relations with Beijing as a result of US pressure.
According to the Israeli news outlet, China's message was conveyed last week by a top Chinese diplomat, Liu Jinchao, to the Israeli ambassador to China, Irit Ben-Abba. Jinchao leads the international relations department of the Chinese Communist Party, which is a minister-level position in the government.
"Senior officials at the Foreign Ministry said that this is the first time that Israel has received such a sharp and direct message from China on the issue of the Israel-US-China trilateral relations," the paper wrote.
"We don't want the relationship between Israel and the US to depend on Israel moving away from China," said Liu. "China and Israel share long-term interests and a positive future."
According to the officials, Liu stressed that "Israel" should not follow suit with Washington when it comes to criticizing China's human rights situation, particularly when it comes to US allegations that China has been waging genocide against the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang.
Read more: US lawmakers form bipartisan Uyghur caucus
The Israeli officials noted that they do not know what is the reason behind the "unusually harsh Chinese message," speculating that the issue may be related to tensions between the US and China regarding Taiwan.
A senior Israeli official remarked that "Relations with China are stable and good, but they know that the US is our closest ally."
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In June, "Israel" joined a group of Western states in the UN Human Rights Council to condemn China's policy against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.
Last June, due to increasing pressure from Washington, "Israel" joined the announcement of the group of member states of the UN Human Rights Council, which condemned the Chinese policy towards the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.
This wouldn't be the first time China threatens to downgrade ties with "Israel."
A diplomatic spat occurred in May over an article published in the Jerusalem Post that called China "authoritarian", suggesting that "Israel" should not have economic ties with an authoritarian country otherwise it will be jeopardizing its national security.
Following the publication of this article, The Jerusalem Post's Editor-in-Chief tweeted that he received a call from the Chinese embassy, asking him to take down the article, or Beijing will cut ties with the paper, and downgrade ties with "Israel", the reason ostensibly being giving the 'breakaway region' of Taiwan a voice that would lend it legitimacy amid the US' push to arm it with weapons to combat China.
