China:
Combine Israel Technology With Our Human Resources
China Ambassdor to Israel
Chen Yonglong (L) with Israel Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency Jerusalem----November
21..... The largest, most powerful delegation of business leaders and governmental
officials ever to visit Israel from China arrived in Tel Aviv today. The China
delegation, which will be touring Israel for four days, came at the invite of
Israel Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni with assisted coordination by the Israel Export
Institute. Among
the many notable members of the China delegation to set foot in Israel were Mr.
Liu Qi, a member of China's Politburo central committee and president of the Beijing
Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics. The
China delegation will combine political meetings with economic ones. Liu, formerly
Beijing's mayor, is scheduled to meet with Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Vice Premier Shimon
Peres, and Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai. Liu
will meet with the heads of Israel's Olympic committee, as well as with local
business leaders in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Liu Chi is the president of the Organizing
Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG). Beijing is hosting the 2008
Olympic Games. Beijing,
wary of terrorism on its soil, is implementing an abundance of caution and is
presently seeking international support to ensure a safe Olympic Games with the
aid of 10,000 trained personnel. Liu Shaowu, head of the Security Department of
the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), said
that although the city has no record of major terror activities, such attacks
could not be ruled out two years hence when more than 2 million foreign athletes,
officials and visitors pour into Beijing for the Games. "We
cannot exclude the possibility that these people could become the object of terrorists,"
Liu told an international seminar on counter-terrorism and international security
co-operation during major sporting events, which opened yesterday in Beijing.
The UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and the Beijing
Municipal Bureau of Public Security, recently organized a three-day seminar attended
by security experts from China and seven other countries including Britain, the
United States and Israel. Israel
has already started to take interest in the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing,
China. This time it has nothing to do with athletics, but rather with several
bids by Israeli companies to participate in the construction of the Olympic village. Liu
is accompanied in Israel by 17 Communist Party members, and a delegation representing
14 of the leading companies in China. He is also expected to sign a "sister city"
agreement with Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. Among
the Israel and China companies which are expected to sign contracts this week
are Datang Telecom Technology Co. Ltd., Comsys Communications and Signal Processing
Ltd, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) (NYSE: SMI; HKSE:
0981) Applied Materials Israel Ltd., whose parent company, Applied Materials Inc.
(Nasdaq: AMAT) has $600 million in sales a year in China. A Chinese cooking oil
company owned by the Eisenberg family, is expected to sign a cooperation agreement
with Zeta Olive Oil Industries (1999) Ltd. for the export of olive oil to China.
The China delegation
will visit the Weitzman Institute, a factory in Kibbutz Na'an, a sewage treatment
facility near Tel Aviv and meet with a panel of Israeli start up companies. The
visit is supposed to deepen the cooperation in the areas of water, agriculture,
and medicine.
As both political and economic talks give birth to fresh seeds of trade between
China and Israel, Israel's merchant marine fleet Zim has just invested $44m in
China joint venture. The joint venture is for the construction and operation of
18 freight railway terminals. The Israel Corp. (TASE: ILCO) which owns Zim Integrated
Shipping Services Ltd., made the announcement. The Chinese contract is for the
construction and operation of 18 freight railway terminals. Zim's stake in the
venture stands at 8%, in exchange for the $44-million investment. Recently
the H.E. Ambassador to Israel Chen Yonglong addressed both Israel and China leaders
at a reception in Israel. Following is Chen Yonglong's speech:. Good
evening! It is my great pleasure to invite friends from Israel government, business
circle and media to come to this gathering, to review the traditional friendship
between the Chinese and Jewish peoples as well as between the People's Republic
of China and the State of Israel, to prepare for the 15th anniversary of the establishment
of diplomatic relationship between China and Israel, and to initiate new thinking
for the further development of our bilateral friendly cooperation. During
my stay in Israel for the last two and a half years, I am deeply impressed by
the Israelis' growing interest in China. I have been "forced" to become a speechmaker
by the Israelis' enthusiasm in getting to know China. Wherever I go, be it university,
enterprise, municipality or kibbutz, people always keep me talking until my voice
becomes hoarse. Basically, I think China attracts so much attention because of
the tremendous changes that have taken place in less than thirty years, made only
possible by the reform and opening-up policy. Indeed,
from 1978 to 2005, China's GDP increased by 11 times, from 200 billion US dollars
to 2,200 billion dollars. Its GDP per capita increased from 220 dollars to 1,700
dollars. Last year, China's foreign trade amounted to 1.4 trillion dollars. As
of last February, China's foreign reserves stood at 850 billion dollars. China
has succeeded in feeding its 1.3 billion population, relieving over 200 million
people from poverty, and extending nine-year compulsory education system to almost
every corner of the country. The Chinese government provides assistance to more
than 60 million people with disabilities and offers equal development opportunities
to all 56 ethnic groups. China
now enjoys social stability. And the Chinese people are pursuing prosperity in
peace. More significantly, China is exploring and pursuing a path of peaceful
development, the essence of which is that China seeks to develop itself by securing
a peaceful international environment, while at the same time, promoting world
peace through its own development. China will rely on its own strength, reform
and innovation to achieve development. Meanwhile, it remains open to the world.
China conducts exchanges and cooperation with other countries on the basis of
equality and mutual benefit, in order to achieve a win-win situation and common
development. China's development is a development of peace, open, cooperation
and harmony in nature. Despite
all China has achieved, we remain a developing country facing many challenges.
Big population, low productivity and unbalanced regional development are the basic
facts of China's current situation. China still ranks behind the 100th place in
terms of per capita GDP. And 23.65 million of its rural population still lives
in poverty. China needs to provide jobs for close to 24 million people every year.
And over 100 million rural labor force in surplus needs to be transferred
to other sectors. China
still needs a long time and unremitting efforts and scientific thinking to develop
before it achieves modernization. Therefore, the National People's Congress earlier
this year approved "The 11th Five-Year Plan" of the national economic and social
development for 2006-2010. In
the next five years, China will stick to a scientific approach in guiding the
overall economic and social advancement, make greater efforts in speeding up our
reform and opening-up, strengthen creativity and the ability to take new initiatives,
promote the readjustment of the economic and social structures and the transformation
of economic growth modes, and enhance the effectiveness of the economic growth,
so that all people can benefit from the achievements of our reform and development.
By firmly pursuing the path of peaceful development and concentrating in construction
and development, China is not only growing in strength but also creating more
opportunities for the whole world. And I think China and Israel are definitely
able to build such a model of cooperating hand in hand while achieving mutual
prosperity. Ladies
and Gentlemen, both Chinese and Jewish civilizations are brilliant and have long
histories. The friendship between Chinese and Jewish peoples has lasted from generation
to generation and been constantly renewed. In the past 14 years since the establishment
of bilateral diplomatic relationship, our two countries have developed omni-directional
ties in political, economic, military, scientific, educational and cultural fields.
The bilateral
trade increased from 50 million dollars in 1992 to 3 billion dollars in 2005.
The amount of Israeli FDI programs in China reached 204. At least 800 Israeli
companies are doing business in China. And recently more and more venture capitals
aimed at Chinese market. We have various cooperative forms in the agriculture
area, such as joint research and development, import of equipments, training,
and demonstration farms. Our
efforts to learn from Israel bore sweet fruits. Mashav programs have accumulatively
helped train more than 4000 specialized personnel. There have been 1000 Chinese
students coming to study in Israel, and nearly 400 Israeli students have learned
in China. The content and the variety of our cultural exchanges have been extended,
with new energies injected by the participation of commercial and nongovernmental
groups in this field. In 2005, our Embassy issued 37000 one-entry or multiple-entry
visas for Israelis, which is 2.5 times of the number in 2001. There are 7 pairs
of sister cities between China and Israel. And 3 new pairs are on their way. We
can conclude from above-mentioned achievements as the following: Israel has a
developed economy and advanced technologies, whereas China has rich human resource,
a huge market and limitless potential for development. Our two economies are highly
complementary, which is the firmest base and strongest motivation to develop mutually
beneficial cooperation at the times of globalization. It
is because of discerning such advantages, the top leaders from our two countries
both placed high expectations on bilateral cooperation. During his visit to Israel
in December 2004, Chinese State Councilor Mr. TANG Jiaxuan proposed that Sino-Israeli
trade volume should reach 5 billion dollars by 2008. And just two months ago,
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told me once again that China's development is not
a threat but Israel's opportunity, and that Israel welcomes Chinese merchandise
and continues to promote the export of Israeli hi-tech products to China. This
consensus at the top level of the leadership proves that the bilateral relationship
is becoming more mature and substantial. Now
I would like to make some recommendations, which may serve as a clue for our future
cooperation. Firstly, during "The 11th Five-Year Plan", China will pay most attention
on agriculture, work hard to upgrade the science, technology and education, and
strive to build a resource conservation and environment friendly society. Since
Israel has management expertise and commercialized mechanism in agriculture, information
technology, biological technology, new material and new energy, Israel will find
promising business opportunities in China in the relative fields. Secondly,
there are huge projects related to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2010
Shanghai World Expo, which will bring unique opportunities for Israeli communication,
security, software and electronic companies. Thirdly, the Chinese government is
carrying out the strategies of "Grand Development of Western China" and "Strengthening
the Central China".
Israel has already involved in the construction of central and western China and
had a good basis for further cooperation. I believe more and better cooperation
can be expected if both sides fully utilize the preferential policies of the Chinese
government. The entrepreneur spirit and business talent of the Jewish people are
well acknowledged all over China. I
therefore firmly believe that for Israelis, the Chinese market is just like the
wide sea for fish to leap or the vast sky for birds to fly. And I am sure we will
receive more and more good news of Sino-Israeli cooperation. Ladies
and Gentlemen, with our economy further developed and upgraded, the international
status of China is also strengthened. Chinese are peace-loving people ever since
ancient times and the core of Chinese culture is cherishing peace and harmony.
Chinese people believe that peace, development and cooperation is the irreversible
trend of our times. The Chinese Government unswervingly pursues an independent
foreign policy of peace, which focuses on actively pushing for a better world
system that is fair and rational, earnestly implementing the new approach to development
centered on equality and mutual benefit, promoting the new security concept featuring
mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation, and advocating a new concept
of inter-civilization cooperation that features respect for diversity. China
sincerely hopes that Jewish and Arab nations will coexist peacefully. We oppose
terrorism of all forms and support all proposals and mediation efforts helpful
for relieving the tense situation in the Middle East. China will continue to make
constructive contribution in pushing forward the Middle East peace process. Thank
you!" Israel
exports to China totaled $725 million in 2005 and imports totaled $2.3 billion.
Exports to China are expected to grow 24% this year.
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