AMIT PORTMAN, a sophomore from the Israeli campus of China’s University of International Business and Economics (UIBE), won the 22nd “Chinese Bridge” language proficiency competition held in Israel in June, and will represent Israeli university students to compete in the annual international Chinese language contest to be held in China.

“Learning Chinese not only enabled me to have a deeper understanding of Chinese civilization, but also helped me see China and the rest of the world from a wider perspective. Only through exchanges among different cultures can human civilization thrive,” Portman said in his winning speech.

Four years ago, after completing the mandatory military service required of young Israelis, Portman traveled and worked abroad while planning his future. Talking with many Chinese tourists while working as a salesman for a cosmetics company in New Zealand, he taught himself some Chinese.

“Chinese people were very friendly and willing to talk, and I’ve been encouraged to learn more about the country and its language,” he said.

When Portman was applying for college, UIBE-Israel, the first overseas campus of a Chinese university in Israel, began to offer undergraduate programs to young Israelis in August 2021. He became one of the university’s first students, majoring in business management.

Matan Vilnai, president of UIBE-Israel, had served as Israel’s ambassador to China from 2012 to 2017. Witnessing firsthand China’s rapid economic growth, he became aware of the need to establish an educational institution to promote the exchanges among young people of the two countries.

Vilnai compared his university to a bridge between the nations.

“This is not a bridge that you just put pillars and build it, it’s something much more complicated. You have to foster the understanding between Chinese and Israelis,” he said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

China is important to the world as a whole, including Israel, he said, citing statistics of fast-growing bilateral trade since China and Israel began economic ties in the 1990s. China is projected to overtake the United States as Israel’s top trading partner before 2035.

“If we want to form a closer bond in commerce, we need to have a better understanding of each other. The vision of this university is to enhance the understanding between the two countries’ young people by allowing them to sit in the same classrooms, listen to the same lectures, and take the same tests,” he added.

Thousands of miles away, some 50 Israeli students from UIBE-Israel were about to end their long-awaited journey to China in Beijing. During their visit, they studied at the UIBE headquarters and traveled to the Great Wall. They also participated in the China-Israel Youth Science and Technology Innovation Training Camp in the China-Israel Changzhou Innovation Park in East China’s Jiangsu Province.

“The reason why this Chinese university is attractive is that it provides an academic platform, commercial knowledge, and mingled perspectives for those young Israelis with the aspiration of doing business with China in the future,” said Netanel Vaknin, CEO and vice president of UIBE-Israel who is in charge of its operation and finance.

Vaknin himself has a history with China. When he was an undergraduate student majoring in East Asian studies at Tel Aviv University many years ago, he chose to study the Chinese language. After graduation, he founded an organization that promoted joint projects for Chinese and Israeli companies.

Vaknin’s early business experiences have strengthened his belief in China’s growth and led him to see the importance of cross-cultural exchanges.

Gadi Ravid, UIBE-Israel’s vice president for academic affairs, is preparing his coursework for the new academic year. He told Xinhua that this course, which combines aspects of business management and human resources, will explore the differences between the two countries’ innovative industries.

“The mission of this university is to foster a better understanding among peoples, help the East and the West to meet midway and open people’s eyes to truth,” Ravid said.

(Xinhua)