|
Has Israel made a huge mistake letting a Chinese firm run part of Haifa port?
[IsraelTimes] ’Why did we do it? I don’t know, but we needed someone to operate our ports quickly,’ says official, amid fears Beijing’s potential intelligence gathering could keep US navy away.Did Israel compromise its own security and its alliance with the US by allowing a Chinese company to operate parts of the Haifa port? Several analysts and anonymous officials have in recent weeks expressed great concern over a deal that will put the Shanghai International Port Group in charge of the port’s container terminal starting in 2021. Allowing Beijing a foothold in so strategically important a location, close to an Israeli naval base, they fear, could compromise Israeli intelligence assets and even lead US military vessels to avoid docking at Haifa at all. A senior Transportation Ministry official this week dismissed such concerns as the plot of a spy movie and called them politically motivated, noting that the Chinese are already operating ports across the Western world and asserting that Israeli authorities did due diligence before signing the deal. And yet, even diplomatic sources within the Israeli government admit that letting a company tied to the communist regime operate the terminal raises legitimate concerns in Washington. They further acknowledge that they don’t really know how this misguided decision came to pass in the first place, and they are urging Jerusalem to quickly sort out the matter before it causes serious harm to the US-Israel relationship. "We warned that this would be an issue," a senior government source told The Times of Israel this week, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... . "This issue is part of a broader concern that the Americans have about our relationship with China. Their concerns are legitimate." China is currently making great efforts to gain control over ports in dozens of countries around the world, which the US sees as a distinct threat, the official continued. Giving the tender to China ‐ other countries interested were Germany, Swiss and the Philippines ‐ might not have been a mistake per se but could have been the result of "lack of awareness," Dan Shapiro, who currently serves as a visiting fellow at Tel Aviv’s Institute for National Security Studies, added, pointing to the rapidly changing nature of US-China relations. Posted by: trailing wife 2018-12-21 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=530158 |