(Jerusalem Post) Herb Keinon - Former Israeli Ambassador to China Matan Vilnai, who had questioned Israel's decision to let a Chinese firm manage the new port in Haifa, said Wednesday that there is no harm in letting the Chinese manage the port. "If they want to spy, they have other ways, they do not need the Haifa port," he said. Vilnai said he has since looked more thoroughly into the matter and discovered that the idea was given a great deal of thought in the prime minister's office, the foreign ministry and the defense ministry, and it was decided that it was in Israel's interest to sign the deal. He said he had originally been concerned that if the port was under Chinese management, the U.S. navy would no longer dock in Haifa. But then he realized that the Chinese are in many ports in the U.S., including in Seattle and Norfolk [home of the largest U.S. naval base], which earlier this month received four massive cranes from China. Alexander Pevzner, director of the Chinese Media Center at the College of Management in Rishon Lezion, said the Chinese are also present at the port in Naples, where the U.S. Sixth Fleet docks.
2019-01-31 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive