Israeli weapons sales of US-funded technology

[Moses]

The Mideast Mirror reports that a “long simmering dispute between the U.S. and Israel over Israeli arms sales to China burst back into the open” recently when it was reported that the U.S. is “demanding that Defense Ministry Director General Amos Yaron be replaced because he was not fully forthcoming about an Israeli deal with the Chinese.” The issue revolves around “a highly sophisticated airborne radar system,” Phalcon, which has been a source of tension between the U.S. and Israel for years. The imbroglio was severe enough that in 2000 “then President Clinton had to phone then-premier Ehud Barak to tell him on the eve of the Camp David summit that if Israel did not immediately cancel the deal with the Chinese, Washington would cancel the summit.” The U.S. subsequently demanded “that Israel cease all weapons deals with China, which Israel promised to do.” But “a few months ago, during a routine conversation between Yaron and Douglas Feith, the number three man at the Pentagon, Yaron…made an incidental mention of a routine Israeli resupply of parts for a Harpy unmanned airborne vehicle system Israel sold” to China in the 1990s. Apparently, Feith “was shocked to hear about the resupply,” thinking “that Israel had broken its promise to stop selling strategic weapons to the Chinese.” Feith’s shock seems a little disingenuous. According to a 2003 New York Times article, Bernard L. Schwartz, chairman and chief executive of Loral Space and Communications, at one time retained Feith as part of a “prominent team” to defend Loral when it “faced government accusations that it improperly transferred rocket technology to China.” -- aaiusa.org/countdown/c122204.htm

[Moses]

www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/520377.html


Last Update: 29/12/2004 00:23

By The Associated Press


Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Wednesday that he has accepted an invitation to visit China, though the visit could be overshadowed by friction over a snagged Israeli-Chinese weapons deal.

Sharon accepted the invitation during a meeting in Jerusalem with Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, the most senior Chinese official to visit Israel in nearly five years.

"It is common practice to refuse an invitation the first time, and even the second time," Sharon was quoted as saying in a statement from his office. "I will accept this one on the spot."

The invitation was made though Israel and China find themselves embroiled in a potentially damaging argument over Israeli manufactured drone aircraft, purchased by China and sent to Israel for an upgrade.

An Israeli military official said last week that the United States has demanded that Israel confiscate the drones, fearing that they could upset the military balance between China and Taiwan.

The demand puts Israel in the awkward position of having to either defy the United States, its main ally, or China, a market with growth potential for Israeli high-tech and military exports.

The argument centers on a shipment of Harpy drones that Israel sold to China in the early 1990s. The planes are designed to destroy radar stations or anti-aircraft batteries. China shipped the unmanned attack planes back to Israel earlier this year for a technological upgrade.

The United States, which fears the military technology could be used to threaten Taiwan and endanger U.S. forces in case of war with China, torpedoed a $2 billion Israeli-Chinese deal in 2000.

Although China blamed the United States for interfering in the sale of PHALCON reconnaissance planes, Israel said the botched deal caused lingering ill will between the countries that was resolved only after Israel paid China reparations.

Tang is to meet Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom Wednesday.

[Moses]

From DefenceTalk.com

Defence & Strategic
Israel's China-U.S. weapons dilemma
By UPI

URL of this article: www.defencetalk.com/news/publish/printer_2027.shtml
Dec 29, 2004, 23:45

Jerusalem, Israel: Israeli officials are seeking ways to deal with a U.S demand that they confiscate parts of Harpy drones they have sold China and Chinese expectations that they keep the agreement and repair, or upgrade, them.

Put differently, the Israelis are in the midst of a dispute between two world powers: One, the United States, whose friendship and assistance is crucial to the Jewish state, and the other is China with which Israel wants closer ties and which already owns the aircraft.

At issue this time are components for Harpy strike drones that Israel sold China in the 1990s.

The Harpy is an unmanned aircraft that can stay in the air for seven hours, fly to a distance of 550 kilometers (342 miles), and crash into radar and anti-aircraft batteries.

Israel sold China "a few tens" of Harpy drones, a well-placed source told United Press International on condition he not be identified.

Several components are back in Israel for repairs, not upgrading, a knowledgeable source told United Press International also on condition of anonymity. The Defense Ministry's Director General Amos Yaron Wednesday told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee the talk is only "about spare parts, nothing beyond that." [his pants are on fire]

The United States reportedly wants Israel to confiscate them. It fears the drones could threaten U.S. troops in Taiwan. [oops!]

Israel is committed to obtaining U.S. approval for the sale of any system that includes American components or know-how. However an Israeli official told UPI there is "nothing American" in those drones.

Several years ago, following another botched deal, Israel undertook also "not to harm any American interests and we meet that commitment 100 percent," Yaron told the Knesset's committee according to its spokesman Giora Pordes.

"We did not break any American law and no policy," Yaron reportedly stressed.

According to the Yediot Aharonot newspaper's defense specialist, Alex Fishman, Israel reported the Harpy's original sale to China.

"The Americans did not like the deal but did not express determined objections. In Israel, they understood (that to mean) everything is permitted," Fishman wrote. [That's exactly what Saddam said when he invaded Kuwait!]

However, in March the Pentagon asked Yaron whether Israel sold China more such drones.

Yaron replied it provided spare parts in 2002. China asked for seven more kits in 2004, and because of the U.S. sensitivity, Yaron ordered that they not be delivered, the newspaper reported.

An Israeli defense official told UPI the agreement with China provides for maintenance and upgrading, and Israel was following that old agreement.

The Pentagon, however, did not accept Israel's explanations.

"We're fed up with your bluffs," ["bluffs"? Nice word for a comprehensive ethic and policy and practice of 100% deception, betrayal, deceit, lies and cheating and stealing] Yediot Aharonot's Washington Correspondent Orli Azulai quoted an unnamed senior Pentagon official as saying. U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith "told people close to him" the Pentagon did not know Israel had sold such a system to China. It (Israel) did not report it and did not get an OK." [Douglas Feith's pants are an inferno by now]

A U.S. Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv declined to discuss the matter. He said it is in the Pentagon's hands.

The dispute ruffled the Pentagon's relations especially with Yaron, though it denied reports it had asked that he be sacked.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Feith have been friendly to Israel, and according to Yediot Aharonot, personal friends of Yaron, ["friendly" -- nice word for treason] but now they are boycotting him. U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper cancelled a visit to Israel that was expected several weeks ago.

In Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz expressed confidence in Yaron.

"He is an honest, reliable man and an excellent director general," Sharon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday.

Yaron nevertheless faced unpleasant moments at the committee's meeting Wednesday.

He briefed the committee's super-secret sub-committee for intelligence affairs for about an hour and a half and seemed to have convinced its members that he has been fair with the United States.

"I fully back Amos Yaron," former deputy defense minister and now a member of that committee, Ephraim Sneh, told reporters.

Yaron was then invited to address the full forum of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

He gave a short general statement, and said he hoped the matter would be resolved within two months, but declined to discuss details. He said he feared his presentation would be leaked to the press "and foreign intelligence services collect newspaper items."

Yaron's refusal to elaborate angered several opposition and coalition members.

"I cannot sit here like the three monkeys who do not hear, do not see and do not speak," committee member Uri Ariel of the hawkish National Union faction told UPI. He asked that the meeting be called off, and when refused, walked out with three other committee members.

"The Americans are exaggerating a bit with their demands," Ariel told UPI. "All along they think they are being conned, but Israel is acting with transparency." [He said this after " He briefed the committee's super-secret sub-committee for intelligence affairs"?]

He said he did not know whether Israel was to upgrade or merely repair the systems sent it. However, he said, "Even if Israel is upgrading (the drones), if there are no American components and the weapons do not endanger the United States, then Israel too has (to see to its) interests. We're not the United States' 52nd state." [No, Israel is the first state]

Former minister Yossi Sarid of the dovish Yahad faction was scathing.

"They expect us to blindly trust the Defense Ministry's director general? Why? Because it is Amos Yaron? The director general?"

"I cannot trust you," he reportedly told Yaron.[But, but... Israel is so forthright! So trustworthy! So transparent!]

The onus is on Yaron, Sarid added, according to his spokesman Roy Yellin. "We're talking of Israel's most trusted friends in the United States, Wolfowitz and Feith, and if they do not trust you, who can trust the defense establishment?" [No one in their right mind]

Yaron and the Defense Ministry were involved in the other botched deal that affected Israel's relations with the United States and China: The attempted sale of the Phalcon airborne reconnaissance plane in 1997.

The Phalcon is a tactical surveillance system that monitors airborne and surface targets and gathers signal intelligence. It was to be installed in a Russian made IL-76 aircraft. The Israel Aircraft Industries was equipping the plane when Israel buckled to the then-President Bill Clinton's pressure, cancelled the deal, removed its equipment and compensated the Chinese. U.S. Embassy officials were at the airport to make sure the plane left Israel without the sophisticated equipment.

China's Deputy Prime Minister Tang Jiaxuan is currently visiting Israel and at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom the two were asked how cancellation of the Harpy deal would affect Israel's relations with China.

Both dodged the question.

Israel's relations with China "are excellent. We closely cooperate on a long list of areas and in all topics," Shalom said.

As for the drones, "I would like to leave it in the ... handling of the two governments," he said in Hebrew. "I am sure that we'll come to an appropriate solution that will be achieved in a short time," he added in English.

Tang insisted the cooperation with Israel "has always been normal and healthy."

It "serves the fundamental interests of both sides and none of them violate the interests of a third party," he said. It was another way of telling the United States: Hands off.

© Copyright 2003 by DefenceTalk.com

[Moses]

Stonewalling Defense official hints at gravity of crisis with U.S. and China

By Israel Insider staff and partners  December 29, 2004
 <br>Defense Ministry director general Amos Yaron caused an uproar in the Knesset's Foreign Affair and Defense Committee on Wednesday morning after he refused to provide details regarding a conflict between Israel and the United States over a large-scale arms deal with China.

Media reports indicate that Israel failed to report to the U.S. the full details concerning the sale of Harpy assault drones to China. As a result, Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith demanded Yaron's resignation, and refused to have anything to do with him.

After MKs Yossi Sarid (Yahad) and Uri Ariel (National Union) asked Yaron to provide the committee with details of the affair, he refused to elaborate, saying that he was afraid that details would be leaked to the media, exacerbating the diplomatic row.

Committee members demanded that its chairman, MK Yuval Steinitz (Likud), stop the meeting, but he refused. Four MKs -- Sarid, Ariel, Aryeh Eldad (National Union) and Majali Wahabi (Likud) -- stormed out of the room in protest.

Sarid, responding to Yaron's request that the committee members rely on his good faith, said that he was not accustomed to trusting anyone blindly. He said that the burden of proof was on Yaron, as the crisis involved Israel's most trusted allies, the Americans. "If such friend do not trust you, who will?" Sarid asked the Director General

Reporting that Yaron told them that "the problem will be solved because it has to be solved," Sarid complained that such an answer is "ridiculous and insulting."

Echo of the past, grim prospect for the future

The Harpy case echoes a previous crisis that arose between the U.S. and Israel over sales to China. In a similar case, Israel went ahead with a plan to sell a flying radar plane known as the Phalcon to China, but the U.S. vetoed the sale. In the end, Israel had to pay China $350 million for defaulting on the deal.

The current crisis also involves a similar arms-trading geopolitical conflict. After several drones purchased and used by the Chinese were sent back to Israel for repair and/or upgrading, the U.S. demanded that Israel not return them to China. The U.S. insists that Israel breach its contract with China, which has already introduced the drones into its armed forces.

Haaretz reported on Dec. 22 that "the Israelis who heard the demand were astonished, considering there is no American technology in the drones. However, American sources say Israel will have no choice but to comply with the U.S. demand. The powerful pro-Taiwan lobby is warning that advanced Israeli weapons technologies could be used against U.S. soldiers defending the island state off the coast of China."

Haaretz added that the crisis erupted after Feith learned that Israel, after selling the drones in the mid-1990s, was upgrading the unmanned airborne vehicles for the Chinese. Feith, a "neo-con" considered as a strong supporter of Israel, was furious and backed by his superior, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, another ardent Israel supporter in the administration.

Debkafile: 3-way crisis with grave implications

Chinese deputy prime minister, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, flew in to Israel Saturday night, December 25. Although he had diplomatic meetings with Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian interim President Mahmoud Abbas, media reports indicate that his mission includes recovery of the drones

After the Phalcon experience, Debkafile reports, "Beijing will not accept monetary compensation. The drones must be returned. Sold to Beijing several years ago, they now bear Chinese military markings. Withholding the craft is tantamount to illegal seizure of a Chinese weapons system and will bring down on the Jewish state serious reprisals." In addition, media reports indicate that Chinese-Israeli diplomatic relations and the interests of Israeli firms operating in China would be adversely affected.

DEBKAfile reports that "Beijing hit the ceiling when it learned that the White House had exacerbated the Chinese drone crisis by shifting it from lower Pentagon ranks to defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld in person. The file was also passed to the Senate Armed Services Committee."

As Debkafile notes, the implications for Israel are grave indeed. "The entire complex of US-Israel defense ties is now up for review in the light of Israel?s compliance with or defiance of Washington?s demand to withhold the Chinese UAVs. Putting the case before the Senate Committee invites a review of US appropriations to Israel, including military aid, in the full realization that delayed transfers would cause Israel severe financial damage. President George W. Bush thus signals that he would not be averse to a senate committee reprimand of Israel and posts a hands-off sign to Israel?s Capitol Hill lobbyists." [Or, they plan to increase military aid to Israel as compensation]

Debkafile suggests that the problems might have been avoided if the Sharon government had not neglected it for months. "The decision-makers in Jerusalem and the defense establishment in Tel Aviv knew the crisis was brewing last August. But they let it ride for four months, hoping for the best, because of their total immersion in extinguishing the domestic fires lit by prime minister Ariel Sharon?s evacuation plan."

PM Sharon's acceptance this week of an invitation by Tang Jiaxuan to visit Beijing may not suffice to solve the crisis in relations. It remains to be seen how far the Americans are willing to go in squeezing Israel to default on another deal with the Chinese.

[Moses]

U.S. Suspends Cooperation With Israel on Fighter Jet
By MARC PERELMAN[/size]
May 6, 2005

In a clear sign that the Bush administration's anger over Israeli-Chinese military ties is nearing a boiling point, the Pentagon is suspending information-sharing with Jerusalem on a key fighter-jet program.

The seriousness of the rift had been downplayed for months by both American and Israeli officials. Last week, however, the Pentagon announced that it was suspending information-sharing with Israel on the American-led, multinational effort to produce an all-purpose attack aircraft, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Washington still intends to sell the jet to Israel along with other American allies after its expected rollout in 2012, officials said. Still, several military observers said the Pentagon's decision to block Israeli intelligence access should be understood as a serious step. The spat is playing out against the backdrop of a flurry of news reports citing increasing American concerns about China's military buildup and the threat it poses to Taiwan, a key American ally in the region.

Israel is China's second-largest arms supplier after Russia.

"It is very symbolic to tell the Israelis that our level of concern is such that 'given the stakes, we'll cut you off despite our normally very warm relations,'" said Derek Mitchell, who headed China affairs at the Pentagon in the second Clinton administration and is now a senior fellow at the Center for Security and Strategic Studies in Washington. "If Israel persists, this could get ugly. We are talking about real military capabilities that could put the U.S. at risk in the Taiwan Strait, a major flashpoint."

In an e-mail message to the Forward, Pentagon spokesman Major Paul Swiergosz stated that America continues "to discuss our concerns about technology transfer issues with our allies, friends and partners and to look for them to take a responsible approach with regards to China."

"Israel is a security cooperation partner in the Joint Strike Fighter program," Swiergosz wrote. "But there are some types of technology and information that we are not comfortable sharing until we resolve the technology and security issues."

Israeli officials are downplaying the rift over the F-35.

"We are in an ongoing dialogue to resolve the discrepancies," Defense Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Niedak-Ashkenazi was quoted as saying by the Jerusalem Post. "We believe that the misunderstandings will be resolved in the coming months."

The Pentagon's decision to suspend information-sharing with Israel comes amid an ongoing dispute between Washington and Jerusalem over an unmanned attack drone, the Harpy, that Israel sold to China. After Beijing sent the unmanned planes back to Israel for upgrades, American officials demanded that Israel not return them to China. Israel says that it is merely repairing the drones as part of the original sales contract.

American officials say that the Israeli decision to work on the drones violated a joint-monitoring mechanism that was put in place in 2003, after an earlier American-Israeli crisis. That dispute concerned an Israeli sale to China of a plane equipped with its own airborne radar system, known as Phalcon. Following American protests, Israel canceled the contract. Jerusalem eventually agreed to pay China $350 million in compensation, but raw feelings lingered, prompting some Israelis to complain about American pressure.

Mitchell, the former Pentagon official, said the "theoretical concerns" first raised during the Phalcon dispute have now evolved into "a real sense of urgency." As a result, he said, pressure on Israel has been ratcheted up and reached senior echelons of the administration.

An upcoming Pentagon report, described last month in the Boston Globe, is expected to claim that China will soon have the capacity to block American forces from defending Taiwan, partly thanks to its military cooperation with Israel, among other countries. The Pentagon document is expected to assert that China is on the verge of launching a new fighter jet built with Israeli technology and modeled on Israel's Lavi warplane, according to the Globe.

The Lavi was a joint Israeli-American design, based upon the F-16, that was to be manufactured in Israel, financed mostly with American aid. The project was canceled in 1987 under furious pressure from the Reagan administration, following years of cost overruns and intense pressure in Washington for Israel to rely instead on the F-16.

The cancellation caused an uproar in the Israeli defense industry, reportedly resulting in pressure on the government to remarket the technology elsewhere. According to Pentagon officials quoted in the Boston Globe, much of the Lavi's design appears to have found its way into the new Chinese fighter. In American eyes, that could amount to a violation of American exports regulations requiring American approval for such sales.

Concerns over China's military prowess led to an intense, ultimately successful campaign by the Bush administration for preservation by the European Union of its 15-year-old arms embargo against China. In the current atmosphere, Israeli military sales to China appear particularly sensitive.

At the same time, Israel views China as an important ally, both for its diplomatic clout and its huge arms purchasing needs. Prime Minister Sharon is scheduled to visit China later this year.

Israel's forays into the booming Chinese arms market reportedly have prompted Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and outgoing Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith to complain to their respective Israeli counterparts, according to American and Israeli press reports.

During a March trip to Washington, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told reporters that the dispute over China was the primary reason for his visit. He added, however, that the "attempt to find a rift or a crisis [between Israel and America regarding Israel's military relations with China] is wrong-headed."

Upon his return to Israel, Mofaz told Israeli defense contractors that as part of his promise of full transparency to the Bush administration, they would be required to get clearance before any attempts to sell military or even civilian products to China.

In mid-December, Israel's Channel 2 reported that Feith, one of Israel's strongest supporters in the Bush administration, had demanded the resignation of the director general of the Israeli Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron. Feith reportedly complained that Yaron had concealed the ramifications of the Harpy deal from him.

Mofaz backed Yaron and said he had no intention of replacing him. However, Mofaz did not bring Yaron to Washington in March. He named a former air force commander, Major General Herzl Bodinger, to represent Israel in talks to settle the Harpy dispute.

While Jerusalem's decision to bow to American pressure and cancel the Phalcon sale hurt the burgeoning Israeli-Chinese partnership for several years, the two countries have renewed their cooperation.

"China has always considered that the development of normal commercial and military cooperation between China and Israel is a matter for these two countries, in which others do not have the right to interfere," said Quan Jing, a Chinese diplomat who is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. "China's economic and security ties with Israel will continue to exist and progress."

China has doubled its military spending since the late 1990s. It recently enacted an anti-secession law, formalizing its decades-long assertion that Taiwan is a Chinese province that should be reunited with the mainland. The new Chinese policy reportedly reserves the right to respond militarily to any move towards Taiwanese independence.

The United States, which favors a peaceful reunification of the two Chinas, has provided Taiwan with billions of dollars of military equipment. Protecting Taiwan and stiffening America's stance toward Beijing are traditionally high on the Republican political agenda.

The Bush administration initially seemed to embrace this position, rejecting the Clinton administration's view of mainland China as a "strategic partner." Early on, the Bush administration strengthened military ties to Taiwan. It also found itself embroiled in a nasty dispute in 2001 over a collision in Chinese air space between an American spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter.

The two have since mended fences. Beijing is now seen in Washington as an ally in the war on terrorism and a partner in pressuring North Korea to drop its nuclear arms program. But China's new assertiveness has prompted new concerns in American military circles.

"There is a stronger concern in the U.S. that China poses a threat to American security," Jing told the Forward, "particularly against the background of political and military confrontations across the Taiwan Strait."

[Moses]

www.pinr.com/


23 May 2005

After months of hiatus, U.S.-Israel tension over China has returned. This time the dispute is over Israel's desire to upgrade the Harpy assault drone that it had sold to China in the mid-1990s. The drones are capable of destroying radar stations and anti-aircraft batteries and the U.S. fears that they could upset the delicate strategic balance between China and Taiwan as well as its interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

What was initially described as "repairing" later turned out to be "upgrading" thereby igniting a new controversy in bilateral relations. Citing a breach of trust and incomplete disclosure, the U.S. reacted strongly against Israel's work on the drone. As the controversy continued, Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan visited Israel in December and invited Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to visit Beijing. This was the highest visit from China in nearly five years. There were even suggestions that contrary to American fears and misgivings, the deal would not only consolidate Sino-Israeli ties but also further American intelligence capabilities vis-‡-vis China.

Israel, however, eventually bowed to American dictates. After weeks of wrangling, pressure tactics and behind the scene negotiations, the issue was resolved. While China was keen to upgrade the Harpy assault drone, the U.S. demanded Israel "confiscate" it. Israel settled for a compromise and, according to a senior Chinese official, returned the drone without upgrading.

This, however, was not the first occasion when U.S.-Israel relations floated into rough waters over China. Since the end of the Cold War and the disappearance of the Soviet Union, bilateral relations between the United States and Israel have been marked and marred by periodic controversies over Israel's military relations with China.

Long before formal diplomatic relations were established in January 1992, both countries forged close military ties. Despite public acrimony and criticism over Israel's policy vis-‡-vis the Palestinians, China found Israel to be an important player in its drive for military modernization. The U.S.-led sanctions following the Tiananmen controversy merely enhanced Israel's role as the proverbial "backdoor" to Western technology.

Likewise, Israel found China to be a prime customer, especially in the 1980s, when its lucrative arms markets in Latin America and South Africa were either drying up or becoming politically untenable. Strategically, the military sales to China smoothed the political differences between the countries and eventually paved the way for Sino-Israeli normalization in January 1992. Thus, both Israel and China benefited from increased military relations.

For its part, the U.S. was also an indirect player in the military saga. While demanding its European allies to continue military sanctions against China, it was indifferent toward the Sino-Israeli arms trade. Seeing the military route as a means of promoting the interests of the Jewish State, Washington was not concerned about Israel upgrading the Chinese military.

Post-Cold War Chinese Fever

The end of the Cold War, however, altered erstwhile American indifference toward Sino-Israeli ties. It no longer needed Beijing as a counterweight to Moscow and Washington began to perceive Sino-Israeli relations, especially the military deals, as a threat to its interests in the Pacific region. The looming prospect of China emerging as a global player that could one day threaten American influence in Asia resulted in the U.S. becoming concerned over the entire development.

One could argue over the rationale or logic behind the new American obsession with the Chinese threat. Given its strong economic interests and involvement in China, one could even question its wisdom in provoking an emerging power. It is, however, undeniable that Beijing occupies a prime position in American global interests, especially its policy toward the Asia-Pacific region.

As a result, since the end of the Cold War both Republicans and Democrats started viewing Sino-Israeli military ties with suspicion and periodically sought to slowdown, contain and if possible scuttle any military deals between Israel and China. Unlike the past, mainstream American leadership, including those committed to strong U.S.-Israel relations began to disapprove of Sino-Israeli military ties.

In early 1992, Israel was accused of the unauthorized transfer of American technology to China; the Washington Times argued that Israel had given China technological details on the Patriot anti-missile system that was deployed in Israel during the Kuwait crisis. Despite it being a strong ally, an official team was sent to Israel to verify the allegations. While the team was unable to confirm the allegations, the political damage was significant.

This was followed by charges that Israel had retransferred U.S. technology from the Lavi fighter program to China. The Lavi fighter plane, that was to have been developed by Israel, depended heavily upon American funding and technology. Having eventually canceled the project under intense American pressure, Israel was later accused of seeking to export the Lavi-technology to China.

Then came the Phalcon controversy when Israel agreed to install the advanced early warning systems aboard a Russian platform. Under the deal, estimated at a billion dollars, Israel was to supply four such planes to China. This raised alarms in Washington, and Israel once again came under pressure. The Clinton administration, despite its friendliness toward Israel over the peace process, argued that the Phalcon would adversely affect American strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific. At one time, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was even warned that annual American aid would be cut to express American anger and displeasure over his refusal to heed.

Eventually Barak buckled, and in July 2000, right in the middle of the Camp David talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israel canceled the deal, apologized to Beijing and agreed to pay huge financial compensation for reneging on its commitment. In response, the U.S. agreed to Israel's decision to sell the Phalcon to India. For its part, Israel agreed to exercise caution and exhibit transparency in its military dealings with China.

Yet, Israel could not avoid using the time-tested military means to regain the trust and confidence of China. Its ability to restore Sino-Israeli relations, especially against the background of growing international criticism and isolation due to the al-Aqsa Intifada, entirely depended upon the military route. Over the years, the military dimension has become the indicator to measure Israel's relations with the outside world. For example, military sales play a pivotal role in the close ties that Israel maintains with Turkey and India. Hence, the Harpy upgrading; to avoid American suspicion, the deal was initially described as a "repair" rather than an "upgrade."

Israel's strategic decision to resume military deals with Beijing appears to have boomeranged. Israeli media admits that U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, the third most senior official in the Pentagon, demanded the resignation of Amos Yaron, the top bureaucrat in Israel's Defense Ministry, over the Harpy controversy. However, having learned from the Phalcon controversy, all parties decided to quietly resolve the dilemma.

Forgetting Lessons, Repeating History

The continuing nature of the Sino-Israeli-U.S. controversy underscores a number of important but often forgotten lessons. Astonishingly, Israel is yet to recognize and reconcile with the negative consequences of the end of the Cold War. It continues to dwell on the benefits of the new world order whereby countries like Syria were forced to seek a negotiated political settlement with the Jewish State.

It is rarely recognized in Israel that the disappearance of the "evil empire" also meant Israel losing some of its relative importance to the U.S. This results in Israel not appreciating the new American concerns vis-‡-vis China and its potential threats to American interests in the Pacific and elsewhere.

Moreover, by focusing on the non-American nature of its military exports to China, Israel is unable to comprehend the real issues involved. The problem is not whether they contain technology supported or funded by the U.S; indeed, both the Phalcon and Harpy programs do not appear to contain any American component or technology. Nevertheless, Israel's dependence upon the United States has limited its foreign policy leverage when dealing with countries that Washington has strategic concerns over. This exposes Israel's vulnerability.

The controversies surrounding Sino-Israeli military ties and Israel eventually yielding to American demands also undermines Israel's ability as a reliable arms supplier. At one level, Israel's ability to promote its foreign policy vis-‡-vis the rest of the world largely depends upon it being a reliable arms supplier. At the same, arms supplies to China bring Israel into a conflict situation vis-‡-vis the U.S.

Conclusion

Israel is not the only country that faces growing American demands on strategic issues. Europe is facing the American music over the possible renewal of military sales to China, India over its bourgeoning energy ties with Iran, and China over its relations with North Korea.

Israel, unfortunately, is more vulnerable than most. Therefore, so long as it depends upon Washington for political support, economic largess and strategic backing, Israel's ability to pursue an independent arms export policy toward China will continue to be limited and circumspect.

Report Drafted By:
Dr. P.R. Kumaraswamy

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The Power and Interest News Report (PINR) is an independent organization that utilizes open source intelligence to provide conflict analysis services in the context of international relations. PINR approaches a subject based upon the powers and interests involved, leaving the moral judgments to the reader. This report may not be reproduced, reprinted or broadcast without the written permission of [e-mail]. All comments should be directed to [e-mail].