China opened an official tourism bureau in Tel Aviv this week, an act which is seen as the first step toward formal relations between Israel and China.
But at a news conference Sunday in Tel Aviv, the head of the seven-member Chinese delegation, Tang Shnuki, said the sole purpose of the mission is to exchange tourists and “promote the friendship” between the two peoples.
The flow of Israelis into China has diminished to several hundred following the suppression of the democratic movement in china last summer But the Chinese guests estimated the potential number of Israeli tourists at several thousand a year.
Tang said that stability has returned to China and that the country is safe for tourists. He said that if Israel desired, the Chinese authorities would probably consent to the opening of an Israeli tourism bureau in China.
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