(Source: "Guangming Daily" May 31, 2024)

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping’s proposal to build a China-Arab States community with a shared future. Driven by the diplomacy of the heads of state, political mutual trust between China and Arab countries has been continuously enhanced, the areas of cooperation have been increasingly expanded, and the results of cooperation have gradually emerged. In the current context of recurring global geopolitical conflicts, sluggish world economic recovery, and the proliferation of anti-globalization ideas, promoting the construction of a community with a shared future between China and Arab states will continue to deepen and solidify, and write a new chapter in China-Arab strategic cooperative relations. It will play an important role in promoting China's high-level opening up, promoting the development of a new type of international relations, and shaping a new global order of fairness and justice.

The construction of China-Arab community with a shared future has yielded fruitful results

Since its establishment in 2004, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum has gradually formed an all-round three-dimensional cooperation framework guided by the summit and driven by 19 important mechanisms such as ministerial meetings, strategic political dialogues, reform and development forums, and energy cooperation conferences, covering w88 and investment, infrastructure construction, energy cooperation, financial services, cultural tourism, people-to-people exchanges and other fields. China and Arab countries are committed to building a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era. China's relations with many Arab countries have developed from partnerships to strategic partnerships and comprehensive strategic partnerships. China and Arab countries jointly issued a data security cooperation initiative, jointly issued a joint statement on the implementation of global civilization initiatives, and jointly signed a cooperation document on building a think tank alliance. China and Arab states have increasingly closer political and economic relations.

First, the foundation for political mutual trust and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation is increasingly solid.Arab countries and China have long-term friendly relations, support each other's core interests, safeguard the common interests of developing countries, are committed to creating a fair and just new international governance order, and promote the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. China has facilitated the resumption of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, supported the maintenance of security and stability in Arab countries, and promoted political reconciliation in the Arab region. In 2023, the BRICS cooperation mechanism will be expanded. The five new countries include the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, which will enhance the representativeness of the BRICS countries and expand the power of emerging economies. China has established 23 Confucius Institutes and Confucius Schools in Arab countries, and the "Chinese language craze" is gradually heating up. The two sides have carried out in-depth cooperation in mutual recognition of academic degrees, study abroad visits, language education, personnel training and other aspects. Political mutual trust and people-to-people exchanges and cooperation have strengthened people-to-people ties and laid a solid foundation for the construction of an all-round community with a shared future between China and Afghanistan.

Second, w88 and investment cooperation has achieved remarkable results.The bilateral w88 volume between China and Arab countries was US$36.7 billion in 2004 and reached US$398 billion in 2023, with an average annual growth rate of 13%. China is firmly the largest trading partner of Arab countries. China's complete manufacturing system and the energy advantages of Arab countries have formed a complementary w88 relationship. China and Arab countries import minerals, energy, and some agricultural products. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq are China's main sources of oil imports, providing a stable energy supply chain for China's industrial development. China exports mechanical and electrical products, textiles, metals, chemicals, transportation equipment and other products to Arab countries. Chinese products with high quality and low price are very popular in Arab countries. The scale of China's two-way investment in Arab countries continues to expand, with direct investment stock exceeding 30 billion US dollars, making positive contributions to promoting the industrialization of Arab countries. In addition, the China-Arab States Expo, as an important exhibition platform, plays an important role in enabling economic and w88 cooperation between the two sides.

Third, there are frequent highlights in infrastructure cooperation.Arab countries are important destinations for China’s overseas contracting projects. The number of projects contracted by Chinese-funded enterprises in Arab countries has shown a rising trend, with the total contract value from 2005 to 2022 reaching US$180.2 billion. Chinese companies have been deeply involved in the construction of infrastructure such as railways, highways, airports, ports, bridges, electricity, communications, real estate, and cultural and sports venues in Arab countries, greatly improving local infrastructure conditions, boosting local industrialization and forming a number of landmark projects. For example, the Saudi Red Sea public infrastructure project undertaken by Power China is a key project of Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030". It is also the world's first large-scale commercial public utility project that integrates the complementary integration of multiple energy sources. It not only promotes the development of local infrastructure, but also drives green development. Relying on its comparative advantages in technical level, cost control and construction quality, Chinese infrastructure companies have won wide reputations. "Built in China" has become popular in the Arab world, promoting infrastructure connectivity under the "Belt and Road Initiative" and benefiting the Arab people from the results of China-Arab cooperation.

Fourth, financial cooperation continues to expand.Establishing a long-term, stable, mutually beneficial and win-win financial cooperation relationship is an important part of China-UAE cooperation. China and Arab countries have established a China-Arab banking consortium. The scale of local currency swaps and RMB settlements has continued to expand. Mobile payment methods such as Alipay and WeChat have gradually expanded in Arab countries. The share of RMB in the payment currency system of Arab countries has increased. Chinese policy banks and commercial banks have actively deployed in Arab countries, carried out financing cooperation with their financial institutions, established joint investment funds, issued RMB bonds, and provided financing for local industrialization projects, infrastructure construction projects, and bilateral w88. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Silk Road Fund, and China-Africa Development Fund are also actively investing in infrastructure transformation, environmental protection, and new energy projects in Arab countries. As China advances its high-level opening up, financial institutions from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and other countries have settled in China. Financial cooperation has provided a strong guarantee for facilitating China-UAE w88 and investment and maintaining the stability of the financial system. It has also expanded the scope of RMB transaction settlement and financing, and promoted the process of RMB internationalization.

Promote the steady and long-term development of the China-Arab community with a shared future

China and Argentina have carried out fruitful cooperation on the basis of mutual development and win-win results, playing a positive role in promoting the high-quality development of the “Belt and Road” and advancing the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind. Despite the geopolitical crisis in the Arab region, China's determination to promote all-round cooperation with Arab countries has not changed. Arab countries' willingness to cooperate with China has also been increasing. China and Arab countries share weal and woe and support each other. The two sides will maintain their composure, eliminate interference, and effectively advance China-Arab cooperation so that the results of cooperation will benefit all parties and promote the steady and long-term development of the China-Arab community with a shared future.

The cornerstone of building a China-UAE community with a shared future lies in mutually beneficial and win-win economic and w88 cooperation. Economic and w88 development is in the interests of all countries. It is necessary to coordinate the policies of all parties, deepen and promote bilateral w88 cooperation, jointly create a good business environment, implement China-UAE w88 liberalization and facilitation measures, accelerate the construction of the China-GCC Free w88 Zone, vigorously develop cross-border e-commerce, overseas warehouses and other new w88 forms, solidly organize the China-UAE Expo, and enhance the influence of the Expo. Expand the scale of China-Arab two-way investment, expand access areas, lower investment barriers for all parties, promote the construction of China's overseas economic and w88 cooperation zones in Arab countries with high quality, and encourage Chinese-funded enterprises to go global as a team. Build Arab country-themed industrial parks in China, attract Arab countries' advantageous industries to invest in China, carry out production capacity cooperation, vigorously explore investment cooperation in new areas such as digital economy, aerospace satellites, health, and seawater desalination, and create a stable industrial chain and value chain for both China and Arab countries.

There are broad prospects for green, low-carbon and energy transformation cooperation with Arab countries. As global climate change issues receive increasing attention, low-carbon emission reduction and green development have become the development focus of various countries. China has set "dual carbon" goals, focusing on promoting green and low-carbon transformation and building ecological civilization. For Arab countries that rely on traditional oil and gas energy production and have relatively fragile ecology, green development and energy transformation are also urgent needs. China and Arab countries should strengthen green, low-carbon and environmental governance cooperation, develop wind and solar energy projects based on the natural endowments of Arab countries, carry out desertification control, promote bilateral joint research and development in the field of green and low-carbon technologies, expand green w88 and investment, and jointly create a green value chain.

Continue to deepen China-Arab financial cooperation. Elevate the level of cooperation between financial institutions on both sides, improve the efficiency of financing operations, encourage more financial institutions and private capital to participate in China-Arab cooperation, continue to promote inter-bank bond market cooperation, expand the scale of bilateral local currency swaps and RMB w88 and investment settlement, develop diversified financial products based on RMB, develop green credit, green funds, green bonds, etc., and provide convenient and fast financial support for China-Arab w88 investment, infrastructure construction and green and low-carbon cooperation.

Further strengthen cultural exchanges between China and Arab countries. Actively build a comprehensive cultural exchange platform between China and Arab countries, deepen and implement cooperation in the fields of education, science and technology, cultural creativity, art, film and television, language, tourism, news and communication, expand the scale of academic education and training cooperation, and carry out "One Belt, One Road" themed cultural activities. Promote exchanges and communication between Chinese and Arab think tanks, jointly study problems existing in bilateral cooperation, promote the introduction of effective plans to solve them, further promote people-to-people bonds through people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and provide a strong guarantee for the construction of a community with a shared future between China and Arab states.

(Author: Lan Qingxin, special researcher at the Beijing Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, professor at the w88 casino)

Attached original text link:https://epaper.gmw.cn/gmrb/html/2024-05/31/nw.D110000gmrb_20240531_1-12.htm