Israel plans emergency trip to China over Iran

A delegation of Israeli officials will visit China later this month reportedly to persuade Beijing officials to switch sides and support a new round of sanctions against Iran.

Headed by Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon, the delegation will meet senior Chinese officials to discuss Iran’s nuclear program and the Israeli campaign for fresh sanctions on the country.

China, one of the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, has taken a stand against Washington’s push for ‘paralyzing’ sanctions on Iran.

This has largely ruined Western hopes for more sanctions on Iran. The west has been struggling to force Iranians into giving up their enrichment program by subjecting them to high political and economic pressure.

The trip has come as a surprise because the political wheeling and dealing of Tel Aviv officials does not normally involve China.

Neither Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu nor Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have visited China or held significant talks with Chinese officials on important issues.

However, the visit is seen as last-minute efforts by Israel to make up for the opportunity it lost with China when it focused all its diplomacy on the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and Germany.

This comes as the UN nuclear watchdog released a new report on Tehran’s enrichment program, criticizing Iran for a range of issues, but verifying the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in the country at the same time.

The two-sided report, which struck a harsher tone comparing to the previous ones, has won plaudits from Israeli officials, who have an arsenal of 200 atomic warheads, but nevertheless accuse Iran of developing nuclear weapons.

Iran says that it is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and unlike Israel, it ‘neither believes in atomic bombs nor is it seeking to develop such weapons.’