China

Days ago, China officially reiterated its position that Israel must return the Golan Heights to Syria.

A hundred Israeli victims of Palestinian terror filed a case in Los Angeles against Bank of China which for years maintain Hamas and Hezbollah accounts and allowed the terrorist organizations to withdraw millions of dollars in cash. Yet, the US Administration shows no intent of sanctioning China for money laundering or state sponsorship of terrorism.
But the Administration reneged on its earlier promise to take North Korea off the terrorist sponsor list for the very same financial operations.
Israel, for her part, conducts negotiations with Syria, a state sponsor of both Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Chinese Foreign Minister held consultations with the UN chief on the situation in Gaza. It is refreshing to know that Chinese communists have left Tienanmen and Tibet behind and now are genuinely concerned about human rights abuses by Jews.

Israeli media are lauding a statement by the Chinese Ambassador that his country firmly opposes Iran’s nukes. What he said, however, was something entirely different: that China supports Iran’s right to utilize nuclear energy according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

In plain words, China supports Iran’s right to run a nuclear enrichment facility, but would issue a formal condemnation once Iran tested a bomb.

Though China voted to approve the Goldstone report in the UNHRC, the country’s MP assured the Knesset Foreign Relations Committee that China would block the report in the UNSC. This way, China looks good both to Muslims in the UNHRC and to world powers in the UNSC.

The Gilo construction project has won the condemnation of… China. A country whose billion-something population would have trouble pronouncing Jerusalem lambasted a building project smaller than one of its typical hotels.

China, a paragon of human rights, wants to maintain its warm relations with Arabs to secure the oil supply.

The UNSC won’t discuss new sanctions in January. China can only be so bold because Russia silently supports it. The two countries took turns rejecting sanctions so as to relieve the pressure on each of them.

The Chinese position is good for Israel. We don’t need to waste time with a new set of toothless, bypassable sanctions.

The US president will meet the Dalai Lama next week, despite China’s vigorous protests. The meeting is practically senseless: the Dalai Lama advocates Tibetan autonomy, which the Chinese won’t allow, and the matter is moot anyway, because the Chinese government has planted a great number of colonists in Tibet to drastically change its demography.

Obama hinted that the meeting is a no-starter by scheduling it in the Map Room rather than the Oval Office.

China will react by opposing sanctions on Iran.

The White House lauded the unexpectedly positive response from China to the idea of “potential sanctions” against Iran.

You can bet your mortgage on this: China will never adopt efficient sanctions against Iran, its important trade partner and strategic ally.

The US State Dept handed China a list of Chinese companies implicated in supplying missile parts and technology to Iran.

But China’s defense companies are all state-owned. It is not some crooked businessmen who transfers the sanctioned technology to Iran, but the Chinese government. But the State Department is too shy to accuse China directly.

The US president threatened his Chinese counterpart with redeployment of US troops in Asia if China fails to convince North Korea to stop its nuclear program.

This is laughable. Bush and Obama have both already tried that trick by sending aircraft carriers to Iranian and Korean shores, with no effect whatsoever. The US did not destroy Pakistani and North Korean nuclear installations, so who would believe that that behemoth would attack North Korea or China?

The US and Chinese governments have announced the installation of radiation detection equipment in Shanghai port. The system, so far installed in 34 ports, is meant to intercept black-market radioactive materials. Meanwhile, semi-official nuclear supplies will continue by air: Saudi Arabia keeps two airplanes in Pakistan ready to bring nuclear bombs to Riyadh at any moment.

By 2018, only 50% of the world’s cargo will go through ports equipped with these scanners, which leaves smugglers with ample routes to circumvent the controls. Besides, in many Third World ports they can bribe port officials to bypass the scan. So the system, commendable as it is, will hardly save our civilization.