China furious after Israeli officials visit Taiwan

Israel shows support for Taiwan in the upcoming UN bid and it doesn't take long for China to react with a diplomatic crisis. Israeli YNet news agency summarizes:

After the Chinese found out the five were in Taiwan, the Chinese Ambassador in Israel Chen Yonglong asked MK Dani Yatom (Labor) for an urgent meeting with him since he is the head of the union for Sino-Israel relations.

The Chinese ambassador said in the meeting that China is angry over the MKs visit in Taiwan, which China has no diplomatic relations with.

At the end of the meeting, the Chinese ambassador asked for a guarantee that the MKs will not meet with government ministers in Taiwan. "If the event happens again, that matter will be viewed as critical," said the ambassador.

Apparently, somebody in the Israeli government is a bit confused or maybe just trying to calm China down, a change from the big headline that was previously produced by the Jerusalem Post :

MK Tal said in response to the diplomatic crisis that was caused: "Tell the Chinese they should not worry about a few people from Shas (fiLi – an Israeli religious political party). We kept a low profile. We are also willing to hold a reconciliation meeting and even act as mediators."

According to the MKs, the five received a briefing from the Foreign Ministry before they left for Taiwan, which complicated the matter even more.

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Here are two sample talkbacks – the Israeli way :

• "Relax, they went for the miles and duty free"
• "Now, if only those MK's went to Taiwan to accomplish something other than spending Israeli taxpayer money, there might have been good cause… but, they simply went for bragging rights and shopping."