Mao Zedong, Israel and the road not taken - 50 years after leader’s death
Israel was the first Middle Eastern country to recognize Mao Zedong’s Communist China, and briefly came close to establishing full diplomatic relations.
On September 9, 2023, the world remembered Mao Zedong, the Chinese revolutionary leader who died 50 years prior. His death marked the end of a long shadow that still influences geopolitics in Asia and around the globe. As leader of the People's Republic of China since its establishment in October 1949, Mao transformed China and reshaped the Cold War balance.
His rule brought immense upheaval and suffering, marked by events such as the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, but also raised Maoism as an ideology for revolutionary movements worldwide.
Israel played a unique role in the ideological landscape shaped by Mao's China. Initially, the Jewish state was the first in the Middle East to recognize the new Communist government. For a brief period in the 1950s, an extraordinary trajectory brought the possibility of full diplomatic relations between Israel and China. However, tensions arose from Mao's support for Palestinian terrorists and his description of Israel and Taiwan as Western "bases of imperialism in Asia."
In a poignant moment, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sent a cable to China's premier after the devastating Tangshan earthquake on July 28, 1976. Beijing refused to accept the message, citing the lack of diplomatic relations between China and Israel. This final footnote to a once-promising relationship encapsulated the complex relationship between Mao's China and Israel.
Written by urgent.news from Jerusalem Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
