BEIJING: The world witnessed significant bilateral and multilateral diplomatic activities in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia on December 7-10, namely, the state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia, the First China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit.
With far-reaching geopolitical and geoeconomic influence, the state visit and the two summits mark the China-Arab states cooperation has been lifted to a new height and represent a new milestone of cooperation on strategy, energy, trade, investment, finance and technology as well as people-to-people exchange between the world’s second largest economy and the Arab world.
The Riyadh Declaration of the China- Arab States Summit highlights the following key points: All parties agree to strengthen comprehensive cooperation for joint development, advance the Sino-Arab strategic partnership, adhere to the UN Charter and principles and mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, safeguard the international order and multilateralism based on international laws, reaffirm the Palestine issue as the key issue of the Middle East, support the Global Development Initiative and the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China, jointly build a Sino-Arab community with a shared future in the new era, increase exchange among different societies and respect all countries’ right to independently choose the path of development and social and political systems suited to their national conditions.
The declaration also shows strong support for the one-China principle by reaffirming that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and opposing “Taiwan independence” in all its forms. China and the Arab world have a long history of friendship and cooperation. By 1990, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had established diplomatic relations with all Arab countries. China always firmly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Arab countries and supports the just cause of the Palestinian people. The Arab world firmly supports the PRC’s resumption of its legitimate seat in the UN and Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity, and firmly opposes foreign interference in China’s internal affairs involving Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
Cooperation Forum has achieved fruitful results over the past 18 years since it was founded in 2004. China is the largest trading partner of the Arab League. The two-way trade hit $330.3 billion in 2021, 1.5 times more than 10 years ago. The first 10 months of 2022 saw the two-way trade volume increase by 35.3 percent year on year, hitting $319.3 billion, and almost twice as large as the U.S. trade volume with the Middle East and Africa combined.
With close Belt and Road cooperation, mutual direct investment between China and Arab countries reached $27 billion by the end of 2021, a 2.6-time increase in 10 years. As the largest oil supplier of China, Arab countries exported 264 million tons of oil to China in 2021, accounting for 51.4 percent of China’s total imports. China’s cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other members of the GCC has expanded to aerospace, digital technology, clean energy and green development, which is in line with the long-term development plans of the Arab countries, including Vision 2030 of Saudi Arabia.
–The Daily Mail-Beijing Review news exchange item
