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Israel's Growing Defense Ties with Asia

(The Diplomat-Japan) Alvite Ningthoujam - After having established successful bilateral relationships with China, Singapore, and India over the last two decades, Israel is expanding its footprint in Asia to include Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Japan and South Korea. No longer do anti-Israel sentiments in some of these countries, out of support for the Palestinian issue, remain an obstacle to promoting cooperation with Israel. Israel has emerged as one of Asia's preferred sources for defense items. The Asia-Pacific region has been the largest destination for Israel's defense exports for the last six years. Of Israel's total global arms exports in 2018 (worth $7.5 billion), 46% were purchased by Asia-Pacific countries. Vietnam was one of the three largest Israeli arms clients between 2014-2018, along with Azerbaijan and India. This growing defense trade helps Israel in funding its defense R&D programs. Beside aircraft and related systems upgrades, missile and anti-missile systems, border protection equipment, early-warning systems, intelligence equipment, and military aviation components are the most sought-after Israeli-made items. The writer served as Senior Research Associate at Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi, from 2014 to 2017.
2019-08-02 00:00:00
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