Strategic Calculations Overview

TicTocand china

Economic Interdependence and Strategic Dependencies

• Economic Interdependence: Israel's 2017 pivot towards China as a "junior partner" in tech development, stemming from Netanyahu's 600 business delegation talks, reveals an asymmetrical dependency on China. Since October 7, 2023, Israel's tourism has decreased by 47% and exports have declined by 32%. Israel may be looking to China to relieve their decline in exports, increasing Israel's vulnerability to Chinese pressure regarding the release of the Chinese engineers in Gaza.

• Information Warfare: TikTok channel "A Certain Zhang Talks" reveals China's narrative engineering, which serves as testimony to China's stance on its anti-Israel support in protest regarding the Five Eyes nations, all while maintaining a strict communist stronghold on content controls in domestic China. This bifurcated information strategy mirrors China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea (CRINK) coordinated alliance tactics to destabilize Western consensus.

• Trade Route Rivalry: Coinciding with final negotiations for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), the release of the engineers was perfectly timed. Beijing likely sees Hamas and its operations as an element used to disrupt competing infrastructure projects.

Chinese Engineers Captured in Gaza Operations

Two Chinese engineers were reportedly captured by the Israel Defense Force in Gaza in 2024, during operations that targeted Hamas's underground labyrinth of tunnels. The tunnels were believed to be highly advanced and constructed by the Chinese, as well as the North Koreans. These engineers, affiliated with China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), are suspected of aiding and assisting in the building of these tunnels.

TikTok's Role in Shaping Global Perceptions of the Gaza Conflict

Beijing exerted diplomatic pressure on Israel for their release. Reports claim that China sought assistance from Russia to increase pressure on Israel. The IDF has recovered large quantities of both North Korean (40%) and Chinese-made weaponry in Gaza. A TikTok video posted on "A Certain Zhang Talks" called "TikTok Has Won Big for Palestine", which aired in October 2023, claimed that the Five Eyes Alliance—what the Chinese call the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand—were burning the Israeli flag and protesting against Israel's defense against genocide. Zhang claims, "…four countries already have massive public marches supporting Palestine, signifying that the people of the world have successfully freed themselves from the information cocoons established by the Jewish elites…now with the presence of TikTok they receive unfiltered, real information."

TikTok has been noted to have a Chinese version that is different from that of the rest of the world. If this is true, this is a dangerous game that China is implementing to feed the people of China only what China wants them to see. There is a pattern to this among the CRINK nations: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

Economic Leverage: How Trade Ties Dictated Israel's Concessions

Relations between China and Israel have grown exponentially in trade, education and investments. In 2017, AP News claimed that Netanyahu stated after a meeting of 600 Israeli and Chinese businesspeople that Israel was in the perfect place to help China upgrade its services and utilities, including technology to bring in better products. "I think there is an extraordinary capacity for China to assume its rightful place as it's doing on the world stage; we are your perfect junior partner for that effort."

During President Trump's first term in office in 2017, according to the American administration, increased rivalry between the United States and China led Israel to reconsider its economic relations with China. According to the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, "In 2016, Israel was in first place in the world in national expenditure on civil research and development, which stood at around 4.4 percent of gross domestic product….In recent years over 300 international corporations active on the technology front have chosen to establish R&D centers in Israel," attracting investors.

Strategic Implications and Future Outlook

So what was said that gave way to the release of the two Chinese engineers in the custody of the IDF? According to Dr. Guermantes Lailari, researcher for National Chengchi University, Taiwan, in 2024, "Beijing's interest in Hamas is related to the closer ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia," seeking to mend the gap between Riyadh and Beijing to improve relations between the Iranians and the Saudis. Could it be likely that this release was based on access to a possible development that Netanyahu was discussing regarding trade routes in his statement to the United Nations in 2023? In September 2023, the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the European Union and the United Arab Emirates announced at the G20 meeting in India discussions based on the possibility of a trade route that would connect the Middle East, India and Europe to establish a solid trading corridor.

The reasoning may not be clear and is classified as to why they were released. China's pressure may jeopardize the lucrative demands within their economic partnership. Considering Israel's economy has already been hit hard due to the October 7th attack and the propaganda push to boycott Israeli goods, along with a drastic drop in tourism that Israel has relied upon for decades as a lucrative form of revenue, the reasoning may be due to security measures. Ties with China may increase security risks for Israel as well as making Israel reliant upon China for economic growth, thus increasing China's technology sphere influence. Trade routes may likely be the case, as Israel is enveloped by nations that promote Islamic jihad, making it hard for Israel to receive and export items to and from the east in a quicker, more efficient manner.