China Threatens To ‘Downgrade’ Diplomatic Relations With Israel

China threatened to downgrade diplomatic ties with Israel after a major Israeli newspaper interviewed Taiwan’s foreign minister, the editor of The Jerusalem Post announced Monday.

The Chinese Embassy reportedly called Yaakov Katz, the editor of The Jerusalem Post, and threatened to “sever ties” with the newspaper and “downgrade relations with Israel” unless the newspaper agreed to remove an interview it conducted on Monday with Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, according to Katz.

“Needless to say, story ain’t going anywhere,” Katz tweeted.

Wu cautioned Israel not to trust China in his interview, saying that the “authoritarian country” was preparing to invade Taiwan. China’s hostility towards Taiwan boils down to a “battle between democracy and authoritarianism,” he told The Jerusalem Post.

“We share the same belief in freedom, democracy and the protection of human rights,” Wu said. “We are like-minded and we should engage with each other more.”

China downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania to “charge d’affaires” in November 2021 after Taiwan was allowed to open a de facto embassy in the country, according to The Guardian.

China reportedly also “condemned” The Jerusalem Post for publishing a May 10 op-ed written by Salih Hudayar, the prime minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, The Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday.

“The Chinese government is trying to censor everyone, not just in China, but also in countries like Israel as shown with The Jerusalem Post. This is just one of the recent examples,” Hudayar told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is something that needs to receive pushback from the international community.”

The Jerusalem Post’s interview with Wu came just hours after 30 Chinese aircraft crossed into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, according to The Jerusalem Post. The Chinese incursion coincided with the arrival of Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth to Taiwan, according to the  Associated Press.

“A very prominent American diplomat told me that you must be doing something right when China gets upset,” Wu told The Jerusalem Post. “So don’t worry about China getting upset at you. When they get upset at you, that means you are doing something right.”

The Chinese Embassy in Israel, the Israeli Embassy, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, The Jerusalem Post and Yaakov Katz did not immediately respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment.