Last Updated on May 18, 2020, 8:53 AM AST by Anthony Morris
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that the Chinese Ambassador to Israel had been found dead in his home on Sunday.
Micky Rosenfeld, the Israeli Police Spokesman, said that the Ambassador’s death is believed to be because of the natural causes.
Du Wei, 58, had been appointed in February in the amid the coronavirus pandemic. He had served previously as China’s envoy to Ukraine.
Wei was found dead at the official residence of the Ambassador in Herzliya.
The Ambassador is survived by a wife and son, and both of them were not in Israel.
Israel has good relations with China, and bilateral trade has grown between both the countries in the recent years and so have the American concerns over the Chinese investment and the concerns over spying on one of its important regional allies.
The death of the Ambassador has come just two days after he had condemned the comments by visiting the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had denounced the Chinese investments in Israel and had also accused China of hiding information regarding the coronavirus outbreak.
Pompeo said that the United States and Israel have an opportunity to build upon relationship rather than allowing the Chinese Community Party to undermine the opportunity.
The Chinese Embassy had published an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post on Thursday while rebuffing Pompeo’s claims that China was responsible for the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and American concerns about Chinese investment in Israel.
The embassy said that it trusts that the Jewish friends are not only able to defeat the coronavirus but also the ‘political virus,’ and choose the course of action that best serves its interests.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
