As the Donald Trump administration ramped up its self-declared "trade war" with China this week, Pentagon officials are expressing increasing concern that Israel and other Middle East nations could be falling deeper into Beijing’s orbit.
Speaking in Washington last week, the Defense Department’s top Middle East policy official said the US military is “highly attentive” to Chinese trade and infrastructure investments with Israel. The Pentagon has repeatedly raised issue with Israel’s decision to allow the government-owned Shanghai International Port Group to strike a $2 billion deal to operate Haifa Port by 2021, a port of call for the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet.
“While we are not asking Israel to avoid dealing with China entirely, we have open discussions with all our closest allies and partners on the national security implications of Chinese investment,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Mick Mulroy said in a statement last week. “The openness of the US and Israeli economies is a strength to our countries, but malign actors can take advantage if we are not cautious.”
China has also proceeded with investments in Tel Aviv’s light rail system, which transits Israel’s defense headquarters at Kirya and a port in the south near Israel’s naval base at Ashdod, which has prompted warnings from US lawmakers and in the editorial pages of American newspapers in recent months.
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