The Soviet Embassy released charges here today that collaboration between Communist China and Israel has developed and that “plans are afoot for establishing military cooperation between the Peoples Republic of China and Israel.” The source of the report was given as “the Arab press” by Anatoly Yegorin, Cairo correspondent of the Soviet propaganda agency, “Novosti,” whose dispatch was quoted by the Soviet Embassy. Yegorin contended that Peking was trying to discredit the efforts of Moscow on behalf of the Arabs while secretly making arrangements with Israel. Among the alleged arrangements was a Chinese-Israeli trade agreement under which China “will supply Israel with consumer goods, food and various equipment” to be delivered in foreign ships.
The Beirut newspaper, Al Bairak was cited as the authority on the alleged trade deal and for allegations that “diplomatic ties between Peking and Tel Aviv have lately become stronger.” Yegorin said in his dispatch that Israel’s Minister of Trade “confessed” that the deal will give Israel an opportunity to penetrate the Far Eastern export market, including China. Observers here saw the report as an effort to defend the Russian position in Cairo and to spread rumors about Chinese-Israeli relations that might damage Chinese-Arab relations. The Novosti correspondent said that Russian help was “highly appreciated in the Arab world” and chided China for not helping the Arabs “hold out in the face of Israel’s imperialist aggression.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
