Ambassador Gao Yanping and Prime Minister Netanyahu (3rd on the right) proposing a toast

On January 24th, Chinese Ambassador Gao Yanping hosts a reception in celebrating the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Israel and the Chinese Spring Festival. More than 400 guests were present, including Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, Mr. Ehud Barak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Mr. Dan Meridor, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, Mr. Benny Begin, Minister without portfolio, Mr. Yisrael Katz, Minister of Transportation and Road Safety, Mrs. Orit Noked, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. David Rotem, Chairman of the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee and the Israel-China Friendship League in the Knesset, Major General (Ret.) Yaakov Amidror, Israeli National Security Adviser and Head of National Security Council(NSC), Lieutenant General Yohanan Danino, Police Commissioner, Mr. Eyal Eisenberg, Commander of the Home Front, Mr. Yoram Halevy, Commander of the Border Police, Mr. Vered Per swid, General Director of the Prime Minister's Office, Mr. Raphael Barak, Director General of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Edan Bar-tal, Director General of Ministry of Communications, Mrs. Talya Lador-Fresher, Chief of Protocol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Ruven Ben-Shachar, Mayor of the city of Giv'atim, and other government officials, Mr. David Levy, former Foreign Minister, Mr. Moshe Arens, former Defense Minister, Mr. Emmanuel Suffott and Mr. Moshe Ben-Yaacov, former Israeli Ambassadors to China, Mr. Teddy Kaufman, President of Israel and China Friendship Society and Association of Former Jewish Residents in China, and other dignitaries who have made important contributions to Sino-Israel relations, members of the Diplomatic Corps in Israel including Ambassadors of Russia, India, Brazil, Egypt, Cameroon, Germany, Canada, Australia and South Korea, overseas Chinese and representatives of Chinese enterprises and overseas Chinese students. Mr. Shi Yong, Counselor of the Embassy, acted as the moderator of the ceremony.

The reception began with the solemn, passionate national anthem of the two countries. Ambassador Gao Yanping and Prime Minister Netanyahu, Mr. Emmanuel Suffott, Israel's first ambassador to China, Prof. Joseph Klafter, President of Tel Aviv University, Mr. Uriel Lynn, President of the Federation of Israeli Chamber of Commerce, delivered warm speeches.

Ambassador Gao Yanping

Ambassador Gao said, the 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties is not only an important milestone in the history of bilateral relations between China and Israel, but also a new starting point of the bilateral relations. In the last 20 years, political relations between two countries have become more and more mature, economic and trade relations have been improved steadily, pragmatic cooperation has boomed rapidly, friendship between the two peoples has deepened. The development above has brought tangible benefits to both peoples. As the world's largest developing country, China will unswervingly follow the road of peaceful development, pursue the independent foreign policy of peace, mutual benefit and win-win strategy of opening up, and promote the building of a harmonious world of lasting peace and common prosperity. Through the joint efforts of the two governments and two peoples, the prospect of relationship in the future will be brighter and more beautiful! Ambassador also blessed the guests Happy Chinese New Year of Dragon.

Photo:Prime Minister Netanyahu

Prime Minister Netanyahu extended warm congratulations for the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations and praised that China's peaceful rise is the miracle of the modern history of the world. He spoke highly of fruitful bilateral relations of mutual benefit and emphasized that the cooperation between the two countries in various fields such as agriculture, medicine, communication, water technology effectively enhanced the competitiveness of the two countries. He stressed that the people of Israel always remembers China's selfless aid to Jewish refugees during World War II and said Israel would seize the opportunity to further deepen bilateral cooperation in various fields, to double the amount of bilateral trade as soon as possible, to promote bilateral relations to a new level, and to make its own contribution to the safeguarding of the world peace, stability and prosperity. Prime Minister Netanyahu wished the guests a Happy Chinese New Year of Dragon in Chinese!

Mr. Emmanuel Suffott, Israel's first ambassador to China, Prof. Joseph Klafter, President of Tel Aviv University, Mr. Uriel Lynn, President of the Federation of Israeli Chamber of Commerce, delivered speech respectively. They praised China's achievements, stressed that China always has a special status in the hearts of Israelis. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries 20 years ago, through the joint efforts of all sectors of the society, bilateral relations have developed rapidly and have achieved fruitful results. The development has written a bright new chapter to the Chinese-Jewish traditional friendship. They pointed out that there are great potential and bright prospects for cooperation between two countries and there are successors to the friendship. Ambassador Suffott said with great affection in Chinese "Long live the friendship between China and Israel!"

Guests and overseas Chinese community, student representatives commented highly of the great achievements of China's reform and opening up, as well as the fruitful cooperation in the political, economic and social fields which has been achieved since the establishment of diplomatic relations 20 years ago, and China's peaceful development concept and roads. They expressed their strong desire to enhance the relations between China and Israel and their hope for a better future for Sino-Israel relations.

More than 10 Chinese and Israeli major media including Xinhua News Agency, CCTV, China Radio International, "Guangming Daily", "Science and Technology Daily", "Global Times" and the Israeli media "Haaretz", "Jerusalem Post", Channel 10, Voice of Israel, Voice of IDF, Ynet and Walla covered the event.