China backs off from investigating sudden death of its ambassador in Israel

China appears to accept Israel’s assessment that a heart attack caused the sudden death of its ambassador in Israel.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

China has for now canceled plans to send a team of investigators to Israel to look into the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of their ambassador on the weekend, Channel 12 reported Monday.

“According to the preliminary report, Du Wei died unexpectedly due to his health, and the specifics need further verification,” Chinese Foreign Minister Zhao Lijian said at a press conference in Beijing. “We express our deep condolences on Ambassador Dei’s unfortunate death and sincere condolences to his family.”

However, the Chinese delegation that was scheduled to land in Israel Monday to investigate the circumstances of the ambassador’s death was canceled at the last minute, apparently because China’s political leadership accepted the results of an the Israeli assessment that 57-year-old Wei died of cardiac arrest.

A career diplomat, Wei had only arrived in Israel to start his posting in February after previously serving as China’s ambassador to Ukraine. His wife and only son are not currently in the country.

“The Embassy is devastated by this tragic loss and would like to offer the most sincere sympathies to his family,” a statement said on the embassy’s website.

Last Friday Wei had written an op-ed responding to comments Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at their meeting last week in which Pompeo said “the Chinese are not trustworthy partners.”

Wei wrote in the article that “China-Israel cooperation is a win-win in nature, and we trust our friend to make the right decision for them.”

The ambassador also addressed U.S. government claims that China was hiding information about the outbreak of the coronavirus, saying: “China has never covered up or  hid the outbreak of the coronavirus in its territory.”

The ambassador added that China praised the Israeli government and its “exceptional” leadership that managed to win the battle against the virus.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that China was considering sending a team to investigate the circumstances of the Israeli ambassador’s death, but the final decision on the matter has not yet been made, or at least not officially announced.