Why Does U.S. Support of Israel Conform to China’s National Interests?

Israel and North Korea are the same. Every year, they both initiate some shocking incident to infuriate the world. At the turn of a new year, Israel’s flagrant and widespread invasion of Gaza had focused on the democratically elected Hamas regime. Even though the Israeli supreme court ruled that the international press has the right to do on-the-spot interviews, this was refused by the Israeli government. It seems that judicial independence could not resolve this split with executive authority. In January of this year, the Israeli secret service surprisingly forged fake British, French, German, Irish, and other passports in order to assassinate Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, UAE. This was an unprecedented diplomatic incident. Britain and Ireland each expelled one Israeli diplomat.

To quote an advertisement for a certain Chinese product: “Not the best — just better.” In provoking the world, Israel has truly come to this: “Not the most reckless — just more reckless.” On May 30th in international waters, the Israeli military launched a surprise attack against a civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid. It resulted in dozens of casualties! In an instant, there was a global outcry from an outraged international community with denunciations blanketing the globe. Even though China rarely has interests in the international community — and these interests are generally unrelated to those of the United Nations, the European Union, and the Middle East — China also professed intense denunciations toward Israel. Israel, as a nation that most in the world have denounced, has the ability to bear these denunciations. However, it has similarly come to this: “Not the most stubborn — just more stubborn.” A spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister asserted that it was the other side which had initiated this violent clash. With praise, the Israeli prime minister clearly and directly affirmed the military’s performance.

An Israel as unbridled as this would essentially be due to U.S. support. Faced with a clear right-and-wrong distinction involving violence against ordinary people, the U.S. government only expressed regret. The U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates confronted Major General Zhu Chenghu at China’s National Defense University when Zhu criticized the U.S. as being too hypocritical. Gates gave a defense, saying that there was no warning issued when Korea attacked the vessel Cheonan, whereas Israel issued warnings several times before attacking. His slanted intention is as plain as day. Obviously, the real difference between these two incidents is that one involved a civilian ship, and the other involved a military clash. Furthermore, North Korea’s continuing denial is its own doing — from the standpoint of refusal. At the very least, North Korea believes this misdeed is disgraceful. This is absolutely unlike the prime minister of Israel.

But U.S. support of Israel, although it is a matter between the two countries, has a direct impact on China in this era of globalization. Furthermore, U.S. support of Israel fundamentally conforms to China’s national interests.

The next ten to twenty years will witness the final sprint in China’s modernization. Ensuring the smooth completion of this process is China's ultimate national strategy and interest. The entire world is well-aware of this. As the world’s only superpower these days, the U.S. will not of course be satisfied with acquiescing and yielding its position of global leadership. With Obama’s past statement, “I do not accept second place,” still ringing in our ears, he indicated it once again when covered by Australian media: “If over a billion Chinese citizens have the same living patterns as Australians and Americans do right now then all of us are in for a very miserable time, the planet just can’t sustain it....” One could say that the U.S. is the biggest barrier to China’s modernization process. And China’s way of responding, aside from doing its utmost to keep its head down, is to let the U.S. make a few enemies and adversaries, so that it becomes distracted. (Along these same lines, the U.S. is in fact containing China by supporting all separatist forces and by helping anti-establishment figures, both domestic and abroad.) And the unconditional U.S. support of Israel is itself precisely what creates terrorist enemies. In the Middle East and even in the Islamic world as a whole, anti-American sentiment is widespread. Today in Indonesia, it is quite common to see ordinary people wearing shirts with Bin Laden’s face on it. A conclusion based on the hearts, minds, and public opinions of Indonesians may therefore be drawn. Out of the fertile soil of U.S. favoritism of Israel, terrorism springs forth again, more vigorously, thus causing a wearing down of America’s coping ability.

Secondly, U.S. hard power is waning day by day following its economic crisis. According to the core values of soft power, there will be a right time for soft diplomacy. This is another U.S. card for containing China. However, U.S. support of Israel is still seriously damaging the legitimacy of its soft power. In the duel between Israel and Hamas, the outcome was a Hamas elected by the democratic processes advocated by the West. Everyone says that there is no war between democratic nations, but what about the conflict between Israel and Palestine? Moreover, the U.S can have friendly dealings with Saudi Arabia, which is no less a kingdom of feudal successions. Yet how is it that the democratically-elected Hamas government is not tolerated? The fundamental reasons do not depend at all on conformity with American values. Instead, they depend on conformity with American interests. Naturally, this sort of blatant interests-based requirement is severely damaging the U.S. system of values, which are at the core of soft power legitimacy and acceptability in the world. Naturally, China takes the opposite approach and has had the breathing room to move about and to grow.

Thirdly, China’s motivations are a result of regional politics with the problem of North Korea. But U.S. support of Israel is the same, and it could also dispel, or at least reduce to a tremendous degree, the international community’s pressure on China. In fact, it is entirely unfair simply to compare North Korea with Israel. North Korea is a country bordering China. If it has a change in leadership or shows signs of collapse, China will bear the brunt. It may be said that unavoidable and compelling factors certainly exist for China’s support of North Korea. But the U.S. is miles and miles away from Israel and certainly does not face any direct impact. Moreover, if the U.S. is able to handle with justice and fair play the conflict between Israel and the Arab world, then it will not only avoid the loss of Israel but will also gain more support and allies from the nations of the Middle East. Such would be a greater gain than the loss. Of course, it is impossible for U.S. political figures to have a clear understanding of all of this. But the reason that change is incapable of occurring would be their form of government. Jewish lobbying groups in the U.S. tightly hold a superior financial advantage and have hijacked U.S. foreign policy. No matter the harm to U.S. interests, nobody is capable of changing it.

U.S. support of Israel has lead to the recognition of liberal communities in China. I am rarely in favor of the liberal approach to domestic or foreign affairs. But I applaud it this time. Whatever liberal motivations there may be, at least the stance conforms to China’s national interest. As long as matters conform to China’s national interest, I do not have a reason to be against it. Now, we are just looking forward to China grasping an opportune time, ten to twenty years from now, to complete the modernization anticipated by all of our people and to go back to the world position China once occupied for millennia.