疑心生暗鬼

Israel Has Nothing to Fear from China

 

驻以色列大使詹永新在以色列《国土报》发表署名文章

Ambassador Zhan Yongxin’s Article Published on Haaretz

 

2019年8月13日

13 August 2019

 

中国民间流传着这样一则寓言。有一位在月下行走的旅人，误以为自己的影子是跟着自己的鬼怪，想方设法摆脱都没有成功，最终把自己活活吓死。这就是“疑心生暗鬼”的故事。它告诫人们，不要因毫无根据的臆测而害了自己。有意思的是，当今世界上仍有一些人似乎患上了这种“疑心病”，他们把中国视为妖怪，不惜以造谣等手段罗织罪名，抹黑中国与其他国家的互利合作。

The title of my op-ed comes from a Chinese fable. It says that a traveler walking under the moon thought his own shadow was a ghost tailing him, and tried his best to run away from this imaginary ghost. However hard he tried, the shadow remains closely behind, and he was scared to death. The story tells us that we must not be fooled by unfounded suspicions which can cost us dearly. Unfortunately, the fable keeps repeating itself. Nowadays, there are certain groups of people so obsessed with bashing China that they are pulling all strings to frame cases against the win-win cooperation between China and other countries.

 

也有人宣称，中国企业在以色列投资或参与修建基础设施的目的是窃取以情报、控制以战略资源，对以国家安全构成威胁，但却拿不出哪怕一条令人信服的证据。这不禁让人想起2003年，正是有人言之凿凿，谎称伊拉克有大规模杀伤性武器，开启了一场师出无名的战争。2013年，“棱镜计划”曝光，全世界惊讶地看到，正是那些天天指责别国窃取情报的人，长期以来系统性地从事非法网络攻击、窃取各国机密，甚至连自己盟国的领导人都不放过。

Some people claimed that China’s investment and infrastructure projects in Israel intend to steal Israel’s intelligence, control its strategic resources and threaten its security. However, they have failed to provide any concrete evidence. What these people are doing reminds me of several well-recorded incidents in history. In 2003, some people forcefully stated that Iraq had WMDs and then launched an unjust war. In 2013, “PRISM” shocked the world. Someone who accuses others of intelligence gathering has been operating a systematic hacking and tapping campaign for years, and their targets even include leaders of allies.

 

中国没做亏心事，并不怕鬼叫门。但看到近来针对中国的无端指责和误导性言论有所增多，我深感有必要澄清几点事实。

In China, we have another saying related to ghosts, that anyone who never did anything wrong need not fear being visited by a ghost at night, meaning that we do not fear any attacks on our integrity as long as we have a clear conscience. However, with the increase of groundless accusations against China and the misleading effects on the public, I find it a must to make the following clarifications:

 

首先，中国高度重视对以关系和双边务实合作。我们积极推进中以创新全面伙伴关系，在经贸、创新、人文等领域的交流合作势头良好，成果斐然。但考虑到以色列的市场容量、安全环境、外部不确定因素和历史上两国合作曾遭遇过的挫折，以色列并不是中国企业在海外拓展业务的重点。2018年，两国贸易总额约140亿美元，仅占中国对外贸易总额的0.3%，中国对以投资不到中国全部对外投资总量的0.4%。双方合作仍有很大潜力可挖。

First, China highly values its friendship and cooperation with Israel. Over the recent years, China-Israel Innovative Comprehensive Partnership has made remarkable progress and yielded fruitful results in areas like trade, infrastructure, innovation, culture and people-to-people exchanges. But given Israel’s territorial size, market volume, regional situation, as well as the external pressure on China-Israel cooperation and the few well-known setbacks in our relations, Israel has yet to be a focus of Chinese companies. In 2018, China-Israel bilateral trade only accounts for 0.3% of China’s total foreign trade, and China’s investment in Israel only represents 0.4% of China’s global investment. The numbers fully demonstrate the huge potential in our cooperation.

 

第二，中以务实合作的本质是互利共赢。中国投资和参与相关项目建设既使中国企业获得了经济收益，也为以色列带来了实实在在的利益。阿什杜德新港项目采购了超过200家以色列企业的货物与服务，在当地直接或间接创造了数千个就业岗位。特拉维夫红线轻轨项目与300多家以色列企业签署供应协议，并培训出以色列第一批掌握盾构机操作技术的专业技术人员。

Second, China-Israel cooperation is win-win in nature. Chinese companies and investment have brought tangible benefits to Israel. Take Ashdod new port for example. The Chinese company purchases goods and services from over 200 Israeli partners and creates thousands of jobs for the locals. In the Tel Aviv Red Line project, the Chinese company signed supply contracts with more than 300 Israeli counterparts and trained the first group of Israeli workers that can operate the Tunnel Boring Machine.

 

第三，中国对以投资与合作完全没有某些人所宣称的见不得人的目的。以海法新港项目为例，中方参与建设和运营新港的公司——上港集团，负责运营世界最大的港口上海港，其集装箱年吞吐量超过4200万标箱，连续9年居世界首位。海法新港即便按期完成建设并迅速达到运营峰值，年吞吐量也仅有190万标箱。如不是以方到中国积极宣介和邀请，上港集团可能不会有兴趣来以参与竞标。有人说中方会利用运营便利监视在此靠港的外国舰队。中国是否有必要在今天仍用“一战”时期的方法来搜集情报，相信任何具有基本军事常识的人都会作出判断。

Third, unlike what has been claimed by some people, there are no ulterior motives in Chinese investment and cooperation with Israel. Take Haifa new port for example. The SIPG, the Chinese company that won the 25-year concession of the new port, has maintained as the world’s largest port company for 9 consecutive years. In 2018 alone, the SIPG processed over 42 million TEUs. Let me put this number into perspective. If the Haifa new port were to be completed on time and reach the peak capacity without a glitch, it can process only 1.9 million TEUs per year. If it was not Israel’s targeted promotion and invitation, the SIPG would not have any interests in joining the bidding. Someone goes even further and accuses China of using Haifa new port to surveil foreign naval fleet. I trust everyone with a basic level of military knowledge can see how ridiculous the accusation is. Does China really need to apply this out-of-date method to collect intelligence?

 

第四，中国企业的身份是清楚的，不应成为被攻击的目标。来以投资和经营的中国企业大都为上市公司或上市集团的子公司。像世界上其他上市公司一样，这些中国企业除可能拥有政府投资外，还拥有大量社会资金，包括来自欧洲、美国的投资，经营上自负盈亏，对股东负责，并公布营业数据，接受市场监督，始终保持透明。这些中国公司经过公开招标程序赢得在以商机，完全是市场行为。指责中国政府通过企业控制以色列敏感基础设施、传送敏感数据简直就是天方夜谭。

Fourth, the Chinese companies investing or doing business in Israel are all independent market entities, and they should not suffer unwarranted attacks. The Chinese companies in Israel are either publicly listed or affiliated to a listed corporation. They may have investment from the government, but they also receive huge amount of funding from across the society, including these from Europe and America. Moreover, like all the listed companies in the world, the Chinese ones must take care of shareholders’ interests, disclose information and bear full responsibility for their profits and losses. In short, they are transparent to the public and receive supervision from the market. In Israel, every contract awarded to the Chinese companies is done through fair and transparent international bidding process. They are purely market activities. The allegation of Chinese government controlling Israeli infrastructure or transmitting sensitive data is nothing but a myth.

 

谣言止于智者。以色列是独立的主权国家，中国尊重以方合理安全关切，也无意损害以方同其他国家建立的特殊关系。同时，中以两国和两国企业之间基于互惠互利开展的正常商业合作也应受到尊重。我相信中以之间多年来建立的友谊和互信足够牢固，也相信犹太民族有足够智慧作出明智决定。

Rumors stop at a wise man. Israel is an independent sovereign state, and China respects Israel’s legitimate security concerns. China is not interested in sowing discord or doing any harm to the special relations between Israel and other countries. At the same time, the win-win cooperation between China and Israel should also be respected. I believe China-Israel friendship is strong enough to withstand the external pressure, and the Jewish people is wise enough to choose the course of action that serves their best interests.