For the Taiwanese community in Israel — and for anyone following the Taipei–Jerusalem relationship — 2025 was the year the quiet partnership came into the open. Within months, a majority of Israeli legislators signed a pro-Taiwan statement, Taiwan’s president repeatedly held up Israel as a defense model, and the two innovation economies deepened their semiconductor and startup ties. This explainer pulls the threads together.
A cross-party warming in the Knesset#
In July 2025, MK Boaz Toporovsky, chair of the Israel–Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, coordinated a cross-party statement backing Taiwan’s participation in international forums. By September 2025 it carried the signatures of 72 of the Knesset’s 120 members — an outright majority across party lines. Toporovsky led a delegation to Taipei, where President Lai Ching-te received the group and the statement in person (INSS; Office of the President, ROC).
Israel has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan and maintains its “one China” posture, so a majority-signed Knesset statement is a striking signal of unofficial warmth — what one analysis called an “emotional shift” during the Gaza war (China-Global South Project).
Quiet defense diplomacy#
Alongside the public statements ran a discreet track. Taiwanese deputy foreign minister François Wu reportedly made an unpublicized visit to Israel in December 2025, and former deputy defense minister Fu Hong-hui travelled there in September 2025 to discuss transfers of advanced military technology — both trips kept far from the cameras (Times of Israel).
The “T-Dome” — Israel as a defense model#
The clearest sign of Taiwan looking to Israel is military. On 10 October 2025, President Lai announced Taiwan would build a layered air-defense network nicknamed the “T-Dome” (台灣鐵穹), explicitly inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome (and the U.S. “Golden Dome” concept). On 26 November, he unveiled a historic eight-year, NT$1.25 trillion (~US$40 billion) special defense budget, pledging to lift defense spending toward 5% of GDP by 2030 (USNI News; Jerusalem Post).
Speaking at an AIPAC dinner in Taipei in late October, Lai called Israel’s resilience “a valuable model” for Taiwan and invoked David against Goliath as a metaphor for a small democracy standing up to a far larger authoritarian neighbour (FDD).
Semiconductors and the innovation bond#
Economics is the other pillar. Israel sees Taiwan above all as a semiconductor powerhouse and wants Israeli firms woven into that supply chain; the two held their 15th Taiwan–Israel Economic and Technological Cooperation Conference in November 2025. The fit is natural: Taiwan leads in hardware; Israel in software, cybersecurity and AI. TSMC has invested in Israeli chip startups, and Taiwanese firms have opened R&D and sales offices in Israel (Wikipedia: Israel–Taiwan relations; Calcalist).
As one Israeli tech executive put it, the two share a belief that “innovation is a form of national defense” — a phrase that captures why the security and tech tracks reinforce each other.
Why Taiwan admires the “Startup Nation”#
Long before the 2025 thaw, Taiwan had an intellectual fascination with Israel as the “Startup Nation.” The discourse runs through Taiwanese bestsellers and business media: how a small country under constant threat built one of the world’s densest startup ecosystems, with military-incubated talent, heavy R&D spending and a culture of chutzpah.
That admiration has produced concrete programs. Start-Up Nation Central and the Taiwanese firm Innovation to Industry (i2i) built a “Global Finder” platform in Taiwan modelled on Israel’s startup database, and i2i launched the “IP2 LaunchPad” incubator with US$70 million earmarked for Israeli startups entering Asia (ISRAEL21c; Times of Israel). The framing is often “Israel the Startup Nation, Taiwan the Scale-Up Nation” — Israeli software meeting Taiwanese manufacturing.
What it means for the community here#
For Taiwanese living in or visiting Israel, this is the backdrop to a relationship that is warmer and more visible than the lack of formal ties suggests. If you want the local touchpoints, see our pieces on the Jewish community in Taiwan and Taipei 101 lighting up for Israel.
Sources#
- INSS — Israel–Taiwan 2025
- Times of Israel — Taiwan’s deputy FM secret trip
- USNI News — Taiwan’s US$40B defense supplemental
- Jerusalem Post — Taiwan unveils ‘T-Dome’ modeled on Israel
- FDD — Lai lauds Israel’s air defenses
- ISRAEL21c — Taiwan’s $70M incubator for Israeli startups
More on the Asian communities in Israel in our business directory and guides.
Photo: Taipei skyline by Man Ng / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
