Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that he has received
an invitation for an official visit to China, but did not disclose whether or when the trip would take place. The Israeli leader made the announcement during a
meeting with visiting members of the US Congress. The invitation follows several recent overtures by Beijing to increase its diplomatic footprint in the region and
comes at a time of heightened friction between the Biden administration and Netanyahu’s ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox government. Netanyahu’s office said the “projected visit” to China would be his fourth as prime minister. It said it notified the Biden administration, which has a rocky relationship with China, about the invitation last month. It declined to comment on possible dates for the trip. China has taken a more
strident role in Mideast diplomacy in recent months, brokering a deal to restore
ties between Israel’s archenemy, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in April and hosting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Beijing earlier this month. Israel and China have close economic relations, but Israel’s diplomatic and security ties with the US have precluded closer collaboration with china.
