Opinion
Europe’s China reckoning holds lessons for Israel
Just as Europe increasingly questions how to structure economic and diplomatic relations with a country helping sustain Russia’s war effort, Israel may increasingly ask parallel questions regarding Iran.
Europe’s relationship with China is entering a far more confrontational phase than many anticipated only a few years ago. And the evolving tensions between Europe and Beijing may hold important lessons for Israel as Jerusalem reassesses its own engagement with China.
When Chinese and European officials met in Beijing last month at the 2nd EU-China Conference, the formal agenda focused on trade tensions, industrial overcapacity, market access, and the future of EU-China economic relations.
But underlying Europe’s position was something deeper: growing frustration and concern regarding China’s ongoing support for Russia during the war in Ukraine. Like Iran in relation to Israel, China’s dual-use and financial support of Russia works directly against Europe’s security environment. That concern increasingly affects not only European security thinking, but also the broader economic and diplomatic atmosphere surrounding EU-China relations.
EU and NATO officials have repeatedly warned that Russia’s military actions, cyber operations, sabotage campaigns, disinformation efforts, and pressure on NATO’s eastern flank threaten the stability of the European security order as a whole. For Europe, the challenge posed by Beijing is no longer viewed solely through the lens of unfair trade practices, subsidies, reciprocity, industrial overcapacity, or asymmetric market access. China’s ongoing support for Russia increasingly appears to be reducing Europe’s strategic patience with these imbalances and making them politically harder to tolerate across both economic and diplomatic channels.
The result is that disputes that might once have remained largely technical or bureaucratic are becoming more openly contentious and strategically charged. That dynamic was visible during the Beijing conference, when Jens Eskelund, president of the European Chamber of Commerce in China, unusually bluntly described EU-China trade as a giant container ship arriving in Europe “full” and returning “almost empty.”
The remark reflected more than frustration over trade asymmetry. It suggested that concerns about China’s broader strategic role are increasingly shaping how Europe interprets the economic and diplomatic relationship itself. European officials have repeatedly raised concerns regarding Chinese dual-use exports, industrial support, technology transfers, and broader economic engagement that help Russia continue absorbing the costs of prolonged war and sanctions pressure. Added to the European calculations is the larger strategic reality: Russia’s resilience is increasingly linked to China’s industrial ecosystem, technology flows, energy purchases, financial engagement, and diplomatic backing.
That reality inevitably reshapes the atmosphere surrounding the relationship itself. Israel may increasingly face a parallel dynamic regarding Iran.
For years, Israel largely approached China through the lenses of economics, technology, infrastructure, trade, and diplomacy. China was often understood primarily as a market, manufacturing center, source of investment, and major global economic actor whose rise needed to be managed carefully but pragmatically.
But just as Russia is reshaping Europe’s China debate, Iran may increasingly reshape Israel’s.
Reports regarding Chinese support connected to Iran’s military capabilities, whether through satellite systems, dual-use technologies and materials, industrial support, or broader strategic alignment, increasingly affect Israeli perceptions of China. Beijing’s large-scale purchases of Iranian oil provide Tehran with critical economic lifelines and financial resources that help sustain the regime that continues to threaten Israeli society both directly and through the proxies Iran supports in part from its economic ties with China.
The broader strategic reality now impacting perceptions in Israel is that China is increasingly viewed not simply as maintaining relations with Iran, but as materially helping sustain the economic, technological, industrial, and strategic environment that allows Iran to preserve resilience and continue to threaten security across the region.
Just as Europe increasingly questions how to structure economic and diplomatic relations with a country helping sustain Russia’s war effort, Israel may increasingly ask parallel questions regarding Iran. Europe’s concerns do not mean that it is decoupling from China. In fact, Chinese foreign direct investment into Europe rose sharply in 2025, reaching its highest levels since 2018 according to recent MERICS and Rhodium Group data. Chinese industrial integration into European EV supply chains, batteries, and manufacturing ecosystems continues to deepen despite the political tensions.
But Europe’s experience demonstrates that economic and diplomatic relationships do not remain insulated from strategic realities forever. At some point, security concerns begin reshaping how trade, investment, industrial dependence, diplomatic engagement, and economic exposure are understood politically.
Europe’s tensions with China that are increasingly about whether large-scale economic interdependence and stable diplomatic engagement remain sustainable when one side is perceived as materially helping sustain a major threat to the other’s security environment, may reflect Israel’s reality as well.
The challenge for Jerusalem is therefore not whether to engage China, it must, but instead, how to engage China while maintaining strategic clarity regarding not only its economic but also diplomatic and security interests.
Carice Witte is the Founder and Executive Director of SIGNAL Group.
