Israel and the People's Republic of China established full diplomatic relations in January 1992. On the eve of the visit of the foreign minister of China, Israel acceded to China's demands and withdrew an offer to sell Israeli-made Kfir jetfighters to Taiwan. The visit of Mr. Qian Qichen was the first official visit of a Chinese foreign minister to Israel and marked a notable warming up of the relations with the East Asian power. Apart from agreeing on joint economic projects, the prime minister requested that China refrain from selling modern weapons to Arab nations. This request was made in view of media reports of an impending Chinese arms sale to Syria, including missiles. Text of the summary follows:
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met, yesterday (Thursday), 17.9.92, with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen and his entourage, in his Tel Aviv office.
The prime minister welcomed the guest and said that his visit to Israel is a milestone in relations between the two countries.
The prime minister briefed the Chinese foreign minister on the steps toward peace being taken by Israel, and on the contacts which it is conducting with the Arab delegations in Washington. He emphasized the desire of Israel to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, but a peace which is grounded in bilateral peace agreements -which stand for themselves, without any connection to or conditioning upon negotiations or relations with countries or partners to the negotiations.
The prime minister noted that, even before the visit of the Chinese foreign minister, Israel had decided not to sell Kfir aircraft to Taiwan. He requested that China not sell weapons to Arab states.
The prime minister said that Israel aspires to expand and deepen relations between Israel and China, in the economic realm and in other areas that are likely to serve the interests of both countries.
Foreign Minister Qian Qichen told his host that China values and admires the policy of the new Government in Israel, as well as the flexibility which it has demonstrated in Middle Eastern negotiations. He said that China supports the advancement of the process and, despite the fact that it is aware of the complexity of the situation in the region, it is clear that it will not be possible to resolve the conflict by wars - only via peaceful means. The [Chinese] foreign minister thanked Prime Minister Rabin for the decision not to sell Kfir aircraft to Taiwan; he stressed that China will not do anything that is liable to affect the peace process. He noted that China will not sell any weapons to the region.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the Chinese foreign minister relayed an invitation - from Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng to Rabin - to visit China whenever he sees fit. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin accepted the invitation in principle. No date was set for the visit.