Prophecy Ben-Gurion and the Ascendency of China

Unlike many, or most, Western leaders, David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister and primary founder, had become interested in Asia, and especially India and later even more in China, since the 1930s. He predicted the disintegration of colonialism, the liberation of Asian countries, and the emergence of China not only as one of the world’s great powers, but as the greatest. From the very beginning, he criticized Washington’s support of the Kuomintang’s corrupted regime and, following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, blocking its admission to the United Nations as a colossal foreign policy mistake. In a number of papers, speeches, interviews, and conversations, Ben-Gurion expected President Kennedy to correct this mistake and regarded U.S. involvement in Vietnam as another mistake. Long before his death in December 1973, he had warned of the gradual and relative weakening of the United States in contrast to the eventual rise of China in military, economic, and technological terms. He also underlined that Moscow, rather than Beijing, is Washington’s main enemy and that the essence of the conflict between China and the Soviet Union is not ideological but primarily territorial, related to lands occupied by Russia since the 17th century, which China would never forget nor forgive. Along with his other prophecies (Israel’s peace with Egypt, European unity, and the Soviet collapse), his conclusion that Washington would have no choice but to resume its partnership with China soon materialized.