China has been implementing its vision since late 2013 to “build a global community that shares the same vision and interests, to ensure China’s economy and power.” This is a vision known as the “New Silk Road” or “One Road – One Belt”. The plan was funded by the Communist Party for about $ 1.5 trillion.
China’s vision as a political and economic power rests on the acquisition and development of advanced technologies from every possible field of knowledge – biology, chemistry, microelectronics, communications, lasers, optics, cyber, artificial intelligence, aeronautics, energy, propulsion and a host of other civilian and military technologies.
The strategy for achieving and developing these technologies rests on a number of key elements. The first element is a legitimate economic takeover of advanced technology companies and investment funds, from which China transfers the knowledge to the country. The Chinese companies are ostensibly “innocent” companies, but in fact they are under the full control of the administration. For example, China has invested heavily in investment houses, biotechnology companies, lasers, acoustics and more. Some estimate the Chinese investment in Israel as of 2020 at over $ 30 billion.
- A cheesecake with a spoiled taste that you will never guess is low in calories
The second element relies on legitimate academic collaborations, as part of joint research, and sending students to study outside China. As part of the Chinese flagship program “A Thousand Talents”, more than a thousand undergraduate and graduate students were sent to countries around the world, with an emphasis on Europe, the United States and Israel, and more than a thousand researchers (doctors and professors, also identified as Chinese intelligence officers). In addition, as part of the program, a thousand scientists and engineers from the best in their field in the world were invited to China to conduct research and development on Chinese soil. Academic sponsorship enables China to access first-rate technological knowledge in all areas of content.
And looking at Israel: In addition to many Chinese students studying in the various educational institutions in the country, in recent years, under the auspices of the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs, joint research centers of Israeli universities in China have been established, where many Chinese research and development budgets are invested.
Tiktok (illustration) (Photo: Reuters)The third element in the Chinese program for the acquisition and development of advanced technology, is the intelligence tier. China operates a very wide range of classic espionage measures, including the use of agents (human resources), eavesdropping on the media, and widespread cyber attacks on technology companies, academia, and government organizations. Various publications have even stated that the origin of about 13 percent of the cyber attacks carried out on Israeli organizations is in China.
Additional Chinese intelligence gathering is based on leaking information from Chinese products, systems and applications available on the market, such as tik-tuk (banned from use in the United States), Shiomi products, Wavi phones and more.
China, of course, is not the only country that uses industrial espionage: the United States, France, Iran, and others also use similar methods and means to gather technological and economic information. And here perhaps lies the troubling issue, as China has a long-standing strategic partnership with Iran. It is a strategic alliance that began in the early 2000s, and was strengthened a year ago, with the signing of an upgraded strategic agreement between the two countries, under which China and Iran operate joint intelligence centers, carry out joint espionage and cyber-attacks. In addition, China is assisting Iran in building its military industries as well as in the Iranian nuclear program.
The State of Israel and its high-tech industry and academia greatly benefit from the enormous Chinese budget, and the cash flow it brings with it, a flow that enables the development of academic research, amazing technological ventures, and national infrastructures, such as seaports, light rail and more.
The signing ceremony (Photo: Majid Asgaripour / WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)To sum up: the Israeli view of China is bipolar, on the one hand an important political and economic power, probably the leading power in its power today, which often operates “under the radar”, and sets the global agenda quite a bit. China’s budgets flowing to Israel give “life” to the economy and an emphasis on our “high-tech power”. On the other hand, China is an intelligence rival, which works to gather intelligence in Israel, mainly technological intelligence, and cooperates with the greatest of our rivals.