Xi, Israeli leader hail 30 years of diplomatic relations

President Xi Jinping and Israeli President Isaac Herzog exchanged messages on Monday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of China-Israel diplomatic relations.

Bilateral ties have developed extensively since the two countries established diplomatic relations, Xi said in his message, adding that China and Israel have conducted fruitful exchanges and cooperation in various fields that benefit their peoples since they established an innovative comprehensive partnership in 2017.

Xi said he attaches great importance to China-Israel ties, and that he hopes to work with Herzog and take the anniversary as an opportunity to strengthen political mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, expand people-to-people exchanges and promote the steady development of the two countries' innovative comprehensive partnership.

Herzog said in his message that the two countries have obtained rich outcomes from their cooperation in the economy, agriculture, health, tourism and culture, and that he hopes to further promote bilateral ties during his term of office.

Premier Li Keqiang exchanged congratulatory messages with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on the same day.

Li said in his message that China and Israel have achieved win-win results by conducting productive innovation cooperation, and that China hopes to work with Israel to enhance political mutual trust and further promote pragmatic cooperation in various fields.

In his message, Bennett said he firmly believes that Israel-China cooperation will continue to be deepened in the future and better benefit their peoples.

Also on Monday, Vice-President Wang Qishan co-hosted via video link the fifth meeting of the China-Israel joint committee for innovation cooperation with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who is also Israel's alternate prime minister.

Wang said the two countries enjoy strong economic complementarity and their bilateral cooperation is mutually beneficial.

Bilateral cooperation is not targeted at any third country, nor should it be interfered with by a third party, he added.

Wang said he hopes both countries will complete their negotiations on a free-trade agreement within this year, strengthen their alignment of innovative ideas and resources and enhance cooperation on vaccines and medicines.

Wang and Lapid signed an action plan for innovation cooperation between the two countries from 2022 to 2024, and witnessed the signing of seven agreements on bilateral cooperation in fields including science, health, culture, environmental protection, clean energy and intellectual property.