Chinese Ambassador to Israel Xiao Junzheng rejected as "baseless" allegations of Chinese military assistance to Iran, following claims by former senior Israeli security officials that Beijing helped Tehran develop its missile and nuclear capabilities.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on the sidelines of SIGNAL Group's annual conference on Israel's China and Indo-Pacific policy on Thursday at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Xiao defended China's relationship with Iran.
"I have to say, the kind of baseless arguments I heard today actually also came up at this conference last year," Xiao said.
Among those raising the allegations was Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior IDF intelligence officer.
"In the past, when I was in the Prime Minister's Office, I was more optimistic about the relations with China. I worked very hard to help improve those relations," Amidror said. "Now, when I see the relations between China and some countries in the region, mainly Iran, I'm not so optimistic."
Iran turns to China to rebuild military infrastructure during war with Israel, US
Amidror alleged that following Israeli strikes against Iran's missile-production infrastructure, Tehran turned to China to help restore its manufacturing capabilities.
"We succeeded in our attacks to destroy part of the Iranian capability to manufacture missiles that can reach Israel. But then they bought from China the ability to reproduce it," he said.
"The Iranians could not resume their capability to produce missiles without help from China," Amidror added.
He acknowledged that he did not know whether the assistance originated from China's civilian or military sector.
Asked by the Post whether he could unequivocally deny that Iran was receiving Chinese military equipment, Xiao defended Beijing's export policies.
"China maintains normal relations with Iran within the framework of international law, just like European countries do.
"And according to the internal export control law of China, China does not sell weapons to any party to an armed conflict. And China also strictly regulates exports of dual-use items."
"If some people believe they have evidence that China is transporting lethal weapons to Iran, which would pose a serious threat to Israel's security, I think the Israeli government will let us know."
The comments came amid mounting scrutiny of China's ties to Iran and reports of Iranian purchases of Chinese military-related goods.
A September Reuters report, citing five sources, said Iran had used a barter-like arrangement involving oil revenues to purchase billions of dollars' worth of Chinese goods, including alleged military equipment.
The sources cited by Reuters said that the arrangement had been used at least once in the previous year in connection with multimillion-dollar air-defense contracts.
China's Foreign Ministry said at the time that it was "not familiar" with the arrangement described by Reuters, and the outlet noted that it could not independently verify the alleged military transactions.
The following month, another Reuters investigation found that a network of more than 5,000 Iranian Defense Ministry-linked agencies facilitated imports of at least $2 billion in equipment, explosives, and other military-related goods since January 2025.
Rocket fuel, industrial machinery, heavy-duty vehicles for missile, drone production
The imported materials included rocket-fuel ingredients, industrial machinery, and heavy-duty vehicles that could be used in missile and drone production.
China, along with other countries including Russia and Germany, was named in the report as being among the countries from which the goods originated.
Experts consulted by Reuters, however, noted that some materials also had civilian uses, and the investigation did not establish whether Beijing directly authorized the transfers.
Former Mossad director Efraim Halevy, who also spoke at the conference on Thursday, raised allegations about China's historical assistance to Iran's nuclear program.
Recounting a 1993 visit by former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin to Beijing, Halevy asserted the visit was "occasioned by necessity to demand that China desist from affording scientific support to Iran in the nuclear field."
He added that Rabin, accompanied by then-Mossad director Shabtai Shavit, presented Chinese president Jiang Zemin with "detailed intelligence on the subject," which the Chinese president "flatly denied and rejected."
Halevy added that following talks with the US, China appeared to take steps to halt its assistance in the nuclear field.
"Nevertheless, to this day, a building in Isfahan, Iran, contains equipment providing UF6 scientific support for the processing of high-level uranium," Halevy said.
This building, the former Mossad director asserted, "has a plaque thanking China for its contribution affixed to its outer wall in Farsi and Chinese languages."
The Post could not independently verify Halevy's claim about the plaque.