TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Israel and China have been renewing military ties in recent months after a lengthy chill caused by hefty Israeli arms deals that the United States shot down.
The upswing in relations between the defense establishments has raised eyebrows in Washington, which views China's expansion in the Pacific with growing concern.
Israel once seemed set to be a major arms supplier to China. But in 2000 they fell out after the United States, Israel's strategic ally which provides $3 billion in military aid a year, pressured the Jewish state not to sell a sophisticated airborne early warning aircraft to Beijing.
But in recent months, relations have begun warming again and in 2010, Beijing invited the commander of Israel's navy, Adm. Eliezer Marom, to visit.
Marom's mother was Chinese, so the belief in Israel's Defense Ministry was that Beijing was seeking to restore defense links with Israel.
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