With Belt and Road Initiative, Arab-China cooperation comes to fruition

Manama, May 3 (BNA): The Chinese ambassador to Bahrain has highlighted the strong Arab-Chinese relations and close cooperation, saying they were built on their rich history and on their keenness to move forward successfully. "Both the Chinese and Arab nations have created splendid civilizations, and have experienced twists and turns amidst the changes of the time in the modern history, thus national rejuvenation has always been the pursuit of both sides," Qi Zhenhong said. "Let us shoulder to shoulder promote the Silk Road Spirit, deepen China-Arab cooperation, realise the Chinese dream and revitalise the Arab States." The ambassador said that when people look at the history of exchanges between the Chinese and Arab peoples, they think of the overland Silk Road and the maritime spice route. "Through the ancient Silk Road, the ancestors of the Chinese and Arab peoples took the lead in the friendly exchanges among nations in the ancient world. For hundreds of years, the spirit that the Silk Road bears, namely, peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning, mutual benefits and win-win results, has lived on through generations and written an important chapter in the history of exchanges and mutual learning between civilizations. The Chinese and Arab peoples have supported each other in maintaining national dignity and safeguarding state sovereignty, helped each other in exploring development path and achieving national rejuvenation, and learned from each other in deepening people-to-people and cultural exchanges and revitalizing national culture," the ambassador told Bahrain News Agency (BNA). The establishment of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in 2002 was a strategic step the two sides took for the long-term development of the China-Arab relations. "During the past 14 years , the two sides have successfully transformed the forum into a platform for systematical cooperation between China and Arab states which enriches the connotation of China-Arab relations. We hope that both sides seize the new opportunity of joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, strengthen communication on policy, deepen practical cooperation, and constantly pioneer and innovate to build a successful Forum," Zhenhong said. In the Sixth Ministerial Conference of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum held in Beijing in 2014, the two sides reached an important consensus on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative. "With the joint great efforts, our cooperation has made great progress and benefited both peoples in the past two years. The mutual trust has been enhanced. Xi Jingping, the Chinese President, and Yu Zhengsheng, the Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference made successful official visits to Arab states. The Presidents of Egypt, Sudan and Mauritania, the King of Jordan, the Prime Minister of Iraq, the Speaker of Algeria, and the Crown Prince of UAE have respectively visited China. China has established and promoted the comprehensive strategic partnership and strategic partnership relations with Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Sudan and Iraq. China and Arab states have convened the first round of strategic political dialogue under the forum framework," the ambassador said. China, in the meantime, has actively pursued multilateral efforts on peaceful resolution of the regional conflicts in Palestine, Syria, Libya and Yemen. President Xi pledged to provided 100 million RMB (around $18 million) aids to Syria, Lebanon and Jordan to assist in solving refugee crises caused by the war in Syria, and provide a further 5 million RMB ( around $800,000) in humanitarian aid to Gaza Strip in Palestine, he added. Arab-Chinese relations also witnessed advances in the economic cooperation. "Due to the side effect of low oil price, the trade between China and Arab states in 2015 decreased to $ 202 billion, a 19.2% decrease compared with the previous year. However, China continuously increased the crude oil imports from Arab states by 8.1% and reached a total of 148 million metric tonnes last year. The Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining (Yasref) has been completed and China has won the bidding of the project on Mander oilfield in the UAE and the contract on construction of Kuwait Al-Zour Refinery," the ambassador told BNA. "Since the completion of the Sixth Ministerial Conference of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, Chinese companies have had contracts valued over $70 billion on infrastructural construction in Arab states. CTW2000 of the North-South Railway Project in Saudi Arabia is near completion. Technical and financing agreement on Transmission Line Project for Upgrading of Egyptian National Grid has been reached between China and Egypt. Sepco of China has started construction of Jazan IGCC (integrated gasification combined-cycle) power plant project in Saudi Arabia." China has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on jointly implementing the Belt and Road Initiative with five Arab states - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq. "Seven Arab states - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan and the UAE have joined the AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) as the founding members. Furthermore, China has set up a Joint Strategic Investment Fund of US$20 billion with UAE and Qatar." Cultural and educational exchanges have also been steadily improving, the diplomat said. "In September 2014, the China-Arab friendship year and the third session of Arab Art Festival convened. During the past two years, China has organized the visit of over 30 performing groups and 900 artists to Arab states, invited more than 140 Arab artists to tour in China. Over 100 pairs of the Chinese and Arab cultural institutions have established working relationships. China offered 3,066 scholarships to students from Arab states in 2015 and the number of Arab students currently studying in China exceeded 14,000. China has established 11 Confucius Institutes and three Confucius Classes in nine Arab states from which 36,563 students have graduated. In addition, China has provided various training programmes to 3,363 Arab professionals in the last two years." The diplomat said that Arab states have increasingly become the popular destination for the Chinese tourists. "There are 183 flights per week connecting China and Arab states and 12 Arab states have become the Approved Destination Status for outbound group tours by Chinese tourists officially. Chinese nationals have been granted landing visa on arrival in Bahrain. Agreement between the Government of China and Bahrain on the Mutual Exemption for Holders of Diplomatic and Service Passports has been principally agreed by two sides which will further enhance the personnel exchanges between our two countries," he said. "Currently, both China and Arab states enter the crucial development period, and face the common mission and challenge of achieving national rejuvenation. We hope that the two sides will promote the Silk Road Spirit and take the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative as a new opportunity and new starting point to constantly deepen China-Arab strategic cooperative relations of comprehensive cooperation and common development." The Arab-Chinese relations have also highlighted the principle of "Respect each other’s development path, he added. "Arab states are currently independently exploring the development path, and China is ready to share the governance experiences with them. China firmly supports Bahrain’s continuous efforts in safeguarding its security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and respects Bahrain’s development path according to its own conditions," Zhenhong said. The two sides have also been committed to their mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation. "The Belt and Road Initiative is a way for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. It will promote the common development and great economic integration among the nations, and will bring benefit for the infrastructure construction in Arab states to create a new economic and employment increase. China is ready to connect the Belt and Road Initiative with the National Strategic Master Plan for Bahrain Outlook 2030 to help Bahrain to achieve economic growth and employment expanding." The Arabs and the Chinese have been steadily promoting the advocacy of dialogue and peace. "China supports the Middle East peace process and the establishment of an independent state of Palestine with full sovereignty, based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital through peaceful negotiation and political dialogue. China supports the Arab League and its member states' efforts to this end. China adheres to respecting the Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and urges all the relevant parties to start an inclusive political transition in order to restore peace and solve the humanitarian crises caused by the war," the ambassador said. "China supports the establishment of a nuclear weapon-free and WMD-free zone in the Middle East, firmly opposes all kinds of terrorism and is ready to enhance joint efforts and information sharing with Arab states to strengthen unity, curb the spread of extremist thoughts and to fight terrorism. In short, China will play an important constructive role in the Middle East region, redress the scales and uphold the justice and promote to properly solve the conflicts through dialogue and consultation."