March 31, 2015
Israel has in recent years been pursuing a policy of exponentially expanding ties with Asia, with a focus on India, Japan, China and South Korea. Those ties with the orient are set to grow even further with the visit of two delegations, one from China to discuss a water project, and one to South Korea on the issue of cyber-security.
China, home to the largest population on the globe, faces extreme water challenges. Surging urbanization has meant infrastructure issues, and widespread pollution has limited access to clean water, even as industrialization is drying up other areas of the economic superpower.
That’s where Israel comes in – a new “Water City” project meant to use Israeli water technologies to help China faces its challenges was first established by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during his 2013 visit to China. Afterwards a joint Chinese-Israeli working group was established with Amit Lang, Director-General of the Ministry of Economy at the helm.