Olmert is to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and other senior officials. Diplomatic sources say that the leaders will discuss bilateral relations, as well as regional and international issues of common concern. In particular, Israel will be seeking Chinese support for increasing pressure on Iran over the latter country's nuclear weapons development program.
Chinese government sources added that Prime Minister Olmert is also expected to attend a series of events marking the anniversary of China's initiation of diplomatic relations with the Jewish State 15 years ago. Among those events is the opening of a new Israeli consulate in the Guangdong Province of China. The last official visit to China by an Israeli prime minister took place in 1998, under then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu; however, this is Olmert's second time in China in three years.
Bilateral talks are expected to focus on the extensive trade, technological and defense industry links that have developed between Israel and China in recent years. In an interview with Xinhua news agency in Jerusalem before he left Israel, Olmert said:
China last year ignored Israeli protests over the permission granted to Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Muhammad A-Zahar of the Hamas terror organization to attend a conference in the Asian country. Recently, China announced it will be increasing its manpower contribution to the international peacekeeping force deployed in southern Lebanon.
In interviews ahead of his trip, Prime Minister Olmert emphasized his family ties to China. His parents lived in Harbin, a northeastern city, where they and other Jewish families found respite from persecution in Russia during World War II. "Chinese culture is part of my heritage and part of my earliest memory as a young kid in the state of Israel," Olmert said. "So China is not another country for me. China is very much a part of my family heritage and memory of my family. And we have great love for the Chinese people. And we feel a lot of gratefulness for the Chinese people for the very warm and friendly manner in which they treated Jewish people both in Shanghai and in Harbin."
Chinese government sources added that Prime Minister Olmert is also expected to attend a series of events marking the anniversary of China's initiation of diplomatic relations with the Jewish State 15 years ago. Among those events is the opening of a new Israeli consulate in the Guangdong Province of China. The last official visit to China by an Israeli prime minister took place in 1998, under then-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu; however, this is Olmert's second time in China in three years.
Bilateral talks are expected to focus on the extensive trade, technological and defense industry links that have developed between Israel and China in recent years. In an interview with Xinhua news agency in Jerusalem before he left Israel, Olmert said:
The volume of trade in the last year is three billion US dollars. One and a half years ago, the two sides jointly declared that the target in 2008 is a trade volume of five billion dollars. I am looking forward to it. I am sure it will happen.Despite generally positive relations, Israel has had its defense trade with the Asian giant disrupted on at least two occasions by American intervention, leading to passing diplomatic strains. Under US pressure, in the past six years, Israel aborted one deal with China for advanced reconnaissance airplanes and another for upgrades to drone aircraft.
We sell to China many different items, and we buy from China a lot. The expansion is in many different areas.
China last year ignored Israeli protests over the permission granted to Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Muhammad A-Zahar of the Hamas terror organization to attend a conference in the Asian country. Recently, China announced it will be increasing its manpower contribution to the international peacekeeping force deployed in southern Lebanon.
In interviews ahead of his trip, Prime Minister Olmert emphasized his family ties to China. His parents lived in Harbin, a northeastern city, where they and other Jewish families found respite from persecution in Russia during World War II. "Chinese culture is part of my heritage and part of my earliest memory as a young kid in the state of Israel," Olmert said. "So China is not another country for me. China is very much a part of my family heritage and memory of my family. And we have great love for the Chinese people. And we feel a lot of gratefulness for the Chinese people for the very warm and friendly manner in which they treated Jewish people both in Shanghai and in Harbin."