By Mu Chunshan
Israel’s military toughness is attractive for many Chinese, but its foreign policy stance isn’t feasible for Beijing.
The verbal battle over the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone is getting more intense, and the discussions on Weibo and other Chinese media are becoming more open and bold. Well-known military commentator Dai Xu recently made a statement on his Weibo microblog “Japan is a man-eating wolfdog …. China should learn from Israel and set a limit on the Japanese armed forces, so that the latter does not go beyond the range of self-defense.”
Many Chinese have mentioned on numerous occasions that, on issues involving military competition, China can use Israel as a model. Even Chinese military officials have repeatedly expressed similar views. For example, General Liu Yazhou, political commissar of China’s National Defense University, has publicly praised the Israeli Air Force. General Liu has studied much on the history of the Israeli wars. He wrote in the book God of War over the Sky: “If we say that the air force is the sword of Israel, then Israel is a consummate and superb fencer.” When General Liu led a delegation to Israel in September 2011, he talked about cooperation with Israelis to learn from Israel’s advanced experience.
Read the full story at The Diplomat