BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrapped up a five-day visit to China by meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping, emphasising the military and economic threat of a nuclear Iran.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu warned that not only would a nuclear Iran be a danger to regional peace and security, but that it would also embolden Tehran, making the Iranian regime more likely to take extreme measures such as blocking the flow of oil through the Hormuz Straits, an important source of energy for China.

During his meeting with President Xi, Netanyahu also reiterated Israel’s commitment to peace. According to China’s foreign ministry, Netanyahu said “Israel is well aware of the pain caused by war, welcomes and desires peace, and is willing to achieve peace through negotiations.” Xi expressed hope that talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders would soon take place, commenting “I hope the two sides can make joint efforts to take practical measures to gradually build up mutual trust, to restart peace talks as soon as possible and achieve substantive progress.” Xi met earlier in the week with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who was also visiting China.

Much of Netanyahu’s visit has focused on strengthening economic and trade links between Israel and China. Netanyahu called it a “very successful” visit and announced agreement “to establish a task force of senior Israeli and Chinese government officials to work out a strategic plan to enable the highest level of cooperation between Israeli technologists, businesspeople and experts and all facets of the Chinese economy.” He predicted that “this is a breakthrough, and it’s very, very significant for Israel and I believe it will also be significant for China.”

Netanyahu’s visit to China was the first by an Israeli Prime Minister since Ehud Olmert in 2007.