Recent reports issued by Chinese security, military, and intelligence agencies during November and December 2025 indicated increasing defense cooperation between Taiwan and Israel to develop the Taiwanese defense system “Taiwan or T-DOME” into another similar to the Israeli Iron Dome system with blatant Israeli military assistance to Taiwan in the face of China. For this reason, relevant circles in Beijing monitored Taiwanese Deputy Defense Minister Francois Wu’s secret visit to Israel between September and November 2025. Chinese intelligence and military reports speculated that Taiwan might purchase advanced Israeli radar and missile technologies, such as the Israeli Arrow-2 system, or other military technologies inspired by Israeli systems for use in Taiwan’s T-DOME air defense system, similar to Israel’s Iron Dome system.
Official statements made publicly by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-long in November 2025, which were provocative to China, indicated that “there was technical learning and defense interaction between the Israeli and Taiwanese sides, given the similarity between the design of the Taiwanese T-DOM defense system and Israel’s Iron Dome system.” Official Chinese and military anger toward Israel reached its peak, especially after, in September 2025, the Taiwanese capital received several Israeli delegations, including six members of the Israeli Knesset. Furthermore, in October 2025, Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister “François Wu” met with the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Welfare, “Yinon Aroni,” in Tel Aviv.
The relationship between Taiwan’s new air defense system, known militarily as T-DOM, and Israel’s Iron Dome system, and its connection to the Gaza War, along with Taiwan’s recognition of Israel and its attacks on Hamas and Iran after the Gaza War, as well as the Taiwanese government’s support for the principle of separation from China and its attacks on Hamas and its support for Israel’s decisions during the Gaza War, have all contributed to this situation. China is angered by a number of Taiwanese political and military statements regarding the Gaza War and Taiwan’s blatant support for Israel, considering Taiwan an integral part of mainland China and therefore not entitled to make any independent political or military statements, especially in the context of foreign policy. Taiwan’s supposed ties to and dependence on China are all complex and intertwined politically and militarily within the context of current global geopolitics and the rivalry between Washington and Beijing.
Here, China expressed its anger towards Israel after Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister “Francois Wu” made a secret visit to Israel in November 2025. This visit by the Taiwanese Foreign Minister to Tel Aviv came at a time when Taiwan was increasingly drawing parallels between the threats it faces from China and the threats Israel faces from Iran and its proxies in the region. This was highlighted in a report published by The Times of Israel, which stated publicly that “this shared experience between Taiwan and Israel in confronting larger adversaries has contributed to a greater rapprochement between the two sides in recent years.” Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-long responded by emphasizing that “there is an exchange of expertise and interaction in the fields of technology and defense between Taiwan and Israel,” adding that “Israel has the Iron Dome system, while Taiwan has the T-DOM system.” The Israeli multi-layered defense system includes the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow missiles, and the American THAAD system. Taiwan’s T-DOM design integrates existing systems, such as the US Patriot missiles, Taiwan’s Sky Po missiles, and anti-aircraft guns.
Taiwan openly justifies its Israeli-style military system by stating that “there is a great deal of similarity between the military threat it faces from China and that faced by Israel, which has engaged in conflicts with neighboring countries, including Iran.” For this reason, Taiwan, whose government rejects China’s territorial claims, hosts Israeli officials and lawmakers. Taiwan’s diplomatic presence in the Middle East is limited, but both Taiwan and Israel have embassies in Tel Aviv and Taipei, respectively. Therefore, China objected to official Israeli military and political delegations visiting Taiwan, or vice versa. The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on whether official military and political delegations had visited Israel. Taiwan’s response to the Chinese side was limited to an official Taiwanese statement indicating that “Taiwan and Israel share the values of freedom and democracy and will continue to work practically to promote cooperation and mutual benefit in areas such as trade, technology, and culture and welcome further forms of mutually beneficial cooperation.”
China’s firm military objection to the Israeli Ministry of Defense stemmed primarily from the similarity between Taiwan’s new multi-layered air defense system, known as T-DOM, and Israel’s Iron Dome system. The Chinese Ministry of Defense and the People’s Liberation Army discovered a complete resemblance between the plans for constructing the Israeli Iron Dome system and Taiwan’s plans for its multi-layered air defense system, militarily designated “T-DOM” or (Taiwan-DOM).
The Taiwanese government had previously requested the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s assistance in arming the system to counter China itself, aiming to provide Taiwan with an effective interception against Chinese air threats, according to Taiwanese claims directed at the US and the West, particularly those posed to Taiwan by China. Taiwan’s new T-DOM defense system resembles Israel’s Iron Dome, being a short-range air defense system designed to intercept missiles and threats near Taiwan, according to the Taiwanese government, which opposes China. Taiwan’s growing military relationship with Israel aims to integrate existing sensitive Israeli and American military and defense systems, such as the American Patriot missiles and the domestically produced Sky Bow missiles, with an advanced Taiwanese air defense network similar to Israel’s Iron Dome. This integration is intended to increase the accuracy of Taiwan’s interception of Chinese attack systems and enhance the effectiveness of Taiwanese defenses against China.
This indicates significant and ongoing covert military cooperation between Taiwan and Israel against China, despite the absence of formal diplomatic recognition between the two countries, a situation that China opposes.
From my research and analytical perspective on the Chinese side, Taiwan’s statement, directed against China itself, emphasizing the importance of learning from Israeli experience and lessons from the Gaza war to confront any aggression or threat, such as that posed by Hamas, is a provocation of China’s stance on the Gaza war itself. This is especially true given Taiwan’s official announcement that it is studying all war scenarios in Gaza and the effectiveness of Israel’s Iron Dome in intercepting missiles launched by Israel’s adversaries, such as Hamas, Iran, and Hezbollah, to develop its defenses against any potential Chinese attack. This confirms a clear link between the Gaza war and the Taiwanese-Israeli rapprochement, which Israel has exploited militarily, considering the deterioration of its relations with China and China’s stance, which Israel perceived as biased towards the Palestinians during the Gaza war, leading to strained Sino-Israeli relations. Consequently, Israel has exploited this tension between Taiwan and China to strengthen its ties with Taiwan. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Francois Wu stated explicitly that his country is working to deepen its relations with Israel and has received more support from it than from any other country in the Middle East.
Because of these developments, China officially announced its rejection of this overt military and defense relationship between Taiwan and Israel. This blatant Israeli circumvention of its relations with Taiwan in the face of Beijing’s actions is particularly troubling. Although Israel does not officially recognize Taiwan as an independent state and adheres only theoretically to the “One China policy,” like most countries in the world, to maintain its relations with Beijing, Taiwan’s recent stance in which the Taiwanese side officially declared its desire to strengthen relations with Tel Aviv after the Gaza war and described the Palestinian position as “very bad” has provoked the ire of China. China considers Taiwan an integral part of its territory and strongly opposes any official contact or military cooperation between Taiwan and any other country, especially Israel.
Accordingly, Chinese political, intelligence, and security circles view such military cooperation between Taiwan and Israel as a violation of its national sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs by the government of Israeli Prime Minister “Benjamin Netanyahu” and his Ministry of Defense, a matter rejected by the Beijing government.
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