Chinaand Arab StatesJointly Building Communityof Human Destiny

Wu Sike

（Foreign Policy Advisory Group of Ministry of Foreign Affairs,Beijing,100000）

Abstract:China and Arab states have always had a strong relationship throughout their history.Under the Belt and Road Initiative,China and Arab states should build on the traditional friendship to further cooperate in technology,resources,finance and other aspects,at the same time,pay attention to cultural exchanges between China and Arab so as to jointly make contributions to building a community of common interest and shared futurefor Chinaand Arab states,and acommunity of common destiny for human.

Keywords:The Belt and Road,China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,Community of common destiny

On July 10,2018,the Eighth Ministerial Meetingof the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum was held in Beijing,at which the two sides announced the establishment of a strategic partnership with all-round cooperation,common development and future-oriented relations,opening a new chapter in China-Arab relations.Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech,saying that China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative five yearsago,which has gained extensive support and active participation from the international community,including Arab states.As an important participant and one of the foundersof the Silk Road civilization in history,Arab countries are in the Belt and Road convergence zone,so they are natural partners in the construction of the Belt and Road.The two sides are working together to combine the Belt and Road with regions,collective actions with bilateral cooperation,and mutual development with safeguarding peace,so that they can complement each other with advantages and realize win-win cooperation to benefit people in the region and theworld.Thechairman of the Arab states Emir of Kuwait Sabah,Saudi foreign minister Jubail,Arab League foreign minister Gates delivered a speech on the opening ceremony,they gave high praise for the China-Arab traditional friendship,said the Arab states were willing to participate the construction of the Belt and Road,and agreed with President Xi on building community of common destiny for China-Arab states to promote the construction of a community of human destiny.Faced with great challenge in the peace and security of the Middle East,Arab states looked forward to strengthening communication and coordination with China to jointly promote regional peace,stability,development and prosperity and advancethestrategic partnership between Arab states and China in the new era.Theministerial meeting,with fruitful results,was an important meeting to consolidate the traditional friendship and promote the Belt and Road Initiative,was a new milestone to the discussion on international and regional issues,and further cooperation between China and Arab states,and also gave new opportunities to deeply cooperate in science and technology.As a diplomat who has worked in Arab countries for a long time,he was very excited to be here.

Firstly,the friendly exchanges between China and Arab countries enjoy a long history.The ancient maritime and land Silk Roadshave closely connected Chinese and Arab,and the friendly cooperation between Chinaand Arab statesopened a new chapter after the founding of New China.In 2004,the establishment of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum enhance the overall cooperation between China and Arab countries to a new level.Since the establishment of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,the two sides have maintained increasingly close exchanges and enhanced political mutual trust.China supported Arab countries for independent exploration of development path and mode suited to its national conditions,insisted that achieve an all-round,just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on the relevant UN resolutions and the principle of“Arab Peace Proposal”,Arab countries also gave support for China concerning China’s core interests and major concerns.Economic and trade cooperation between China and Arab states have been closer,the social development cooperation has expanded,peace and security cooperation has increasingly deepened,cultural communication has become increasingly flourished and frequent.Under the framework of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, various mechanisms and activities implemented in an orderly manner,forming a normal and positive situation.The construction of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum has been improved constantly,and developed into a collective cooperation platform covering many fields with more than 10 mechanisms,playing an increasingly important role in promoting China-Arab strategic cooperation in the 21st century.The author was deeply honored to be the first Chinese ambassador to Egypt and the first plenipotentiary to the League of Arab states in 2005,which was a groundbreaking action,as a plenipotentiary representative,The author was able to attend the Arab League council of ministers and the Summit of Arab League to witness the improvement of the overall strategic cooperation between Chinaand Arab states.

Secondly,the Eighth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum will push forward China-Arab collective dialogue and cooperation,and promote the China-Arab relations moving on to a higher level.China-Arab States Cooperation Forum is an important platform for collective dialogue and practical cooperation between the two sides.President Xi Jinping put forward the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013,which put the joint the Belt and Road Initiativewith Arab countries in an important position.Xi met with the delegation of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council countries in January 2014,he said that Arab countries located in the intersection of Belt and Road,they are the natural partner.In June the same year,in the Sixth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,Xi Jinping proposed that upheld the concept of consultation to meet the interests of all to the Belt and Road Initiative,established a“1+2+3” cooperation pattern, taking energy cooperation as the core,infrastructure and trade and investment facilitation as two wings,nuclear power,space satellite and new energy as breakthrough,which got a positive response from the Arab states.Four years later,the scale of pragmatic cooperation between the two sides on this platform has been growing.In 2016,China imported 5.098 million tons of liquefied natural gas from Arab countries,accounting for 19.9 percent of its total imports.In 2017,China imported 157 million tons of crude oil from Arab countries,accounting for 37.03% of its total imports.In 2017,China signed a new project contract with a value of$32.805 billion in Arab countries,and both sides launched major projects in the areas of capacity matching,oil refining and port infrastructure.China has been the second largest trade partner of Arab countries and the largest trade partner of 10 of them.Under the framework of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,China and Arab states have agreed to set up training centers for peaceful use of nuclear energy and clean energy respectively,and to introduce the Beidou Navigation Satellite System to Arab states.The two sides have also established partnership in the field of science and technology,they will build 10 national laboratories in the fields of new energy,health,modern agriculture and communications.China has conducted bilateral space cooperation with five countries including Egypt,Algeria,United Arab Emirates,Saudi Arabia and Sudan,and successfully launched the Algeria-1 satellite in 2017,and the Beidou Center of Chinese and Arab states was established in Tunisia in 2018.In 2017,China and Saudi Arabia have signed the first batch of 30 key projects of production capacity and investment cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia,among which 8 projects have been under construction.Financial cooperation continues to develop,Arab countries have actively participated in the construction and operation of The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.Seven countries such as Egypt,Kuwait,Qatar,Oman,Saudi Arabia,the United Arab Emirates,and Jordan have become founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.Representatives from Saudi Arabia and Egypt also designated the board of the Middle East and Africa Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank respectively. At present, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has approved four projects involving 13 Arab countries,including the project of Oman Duqun Merchant’s Wharf and operation,Oman railway system preparation project,Oman broadband infrastructure project with#663 million promised loan,taking up 15.67%.and Egyptian solar photovoltaic project.In January 2017,the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank offered$265 million to Oman,which was the first time the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank lent money to Arab countries.China has also set up a$20 billion mutual investment fund with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.The Doha Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Dubai Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China have launched RMB settlement business,and the“China-Arab banks association” will also be established.The China and Arab states jointly constructed the Belt and Road Initiative,which has gained warmly response from Arab countries,many countries are actively planning to link their development strategies with the construction of the Belt and Road.The development of the Belt and Road has created a new platform and gave new impetus to the upgrading of China-Arab pragmatic cooperation in the new era.China has signed the Belt and Road agreement with nine Arab countries,and the joint development of the Belt and Road has become the most distinctive feature of China-Arab collective cooperation,which is reflected in all aspects of China-Arab cooperation.Arab states put forward their respective development strategies for future development according to national conditions,such as Egypt’s“the Economic Revitalization Plan”,“the 2030 Vision”of Saudi Arabia,the United Arab Emirates,Qatar and Bahrain,the Fourth Five-Year Plan of Algeria,Jordan’s“Sustainable Development Strategy,and 2025 Vision”,the“2035 vision”of Kuwait,Morocco’s“the construction of Tangier science-tech city”,Iraq’s“Reconstruction of 157 Key Projects”.China will actively promote the“two wings”of oil and gas cooperation and low-carbon energy cooperation to realize the mutual development of financial cooperation and high-tech cooperation.The overall layout of China-Arab joint construction of Belt and Road in the Middle East is rapidly prototyping.Thecooperation between thetwosidesin the field of science and technology is the engine of thejoint construction of the Belt and Road.

Thirdly, people-to-people and cultural exchanges are an important pillar for the joint development of the Belt and Road and fertile ground for bilateral scientific and technological cooperation.Since the establishment of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,China and Arab states have a new historic opportunity for the cultural exchanges.The people-to-people and cultural exchange mechanism under the framework of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum has been operating effectively,and various exchange activities have been remarkable and fruitful.Thanks to China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,China and Arab countries have actively carried out various cultural exchanges,promoted mutual learning among civilizations and helped people to connect with each other.Exchanges and cooperation in culture,art,education,health,media and tourism have been enriched and expanded. The Middle East, with unique geographical and traditional cultural advantages,has always been focused by all countries in the world.The ancient Silk Road,as a bridge,played an important role in civilizations and other exchanges between China and Arab states.In the new era,the Belt and Road across Asia and Europe in the middle area,the two lines of sea and land are converged in a place,the unique geographical location of the Middle East and multiple humanity,religion,nationality,especially the role of energy in the economic and social life in the new period is improved,so the region as the abundant zone of energy resources,its international,political,and economic status is rising.In recent years,countries in the Middle East and Arab countries have undergone turmoil and civil strife,which make them look for stability,development and development paths suited to their national conditions.The Middle East countries,especially Arab states’industries fall behind,they miss the wave of globalization.Under the new condition,how to realize industrialization,improve ability,let more people especially the young people have job and improve people’s livelihood,which is the region’s common demands,makes many countries in the region explore how to strengthen cooperation with China.After nearly 40 years of reform and opening up,China’s comprehensive strength,especially the manufacturing and industry are in a leading position in the world,which have a strong abstraction to the Middle East countries and gulf countries,while Saudi Arabia,Egypt and other countries also have the corresponding development plan that is how to meet the Belt and Road Initiative.To achieve the goal of common development,China and Arab states will jointly promote the construction of community of common destiny for human through development strategies and common construction of Belt and Road,which will be an important practice.Additionally,China and Arab states will enhance cooperation in regional and international affairs,becoming good friends to participate in regional and global governance.Both China and Arab countries have experienced poverty,weakness and bullying in modern times,so China and Arab countries oppose hegemonism and power politics,oppose to the big,strong and rich bullying the small,weak and poor in international community,and stand for upholding the purpose and principles of“The Charter of the United Nations”.China supports that Arab League plays an important role in regional and international affairs.China and Arab countries have maintained close coordination and communication on hot issues in the Middle East, including counter-terrorism in Palestine,Israel,Syria and Yemen,jointly promoted the peaceful and just settlement,participated in global governance in multilateral platforms such as the United Nations,International Monetary Fund,the World Bank and G20,and jointly safeguarded the rightsand interestsof developingcountries.

To accelerate the rooting of the Belt and Road Initiativein Middle East countries,and enablepeople in areasalong the Belt and Road to share the fruits of development are important links assuring business success.The Belt and Road Initiative focuses on connectivity and mutual benefits and win-win cooperation.The cooperation between China and the Middle East countries will play an important role in the regional development,fundamentally resolve the security problems and the spread of terrorism,which is expected to make the region more secure and stable.Certainly,each side realized that ethnic and religious issues in the Middle East are complex,and some hot issues are difficult to be solved in a short time.Extreme terrorist forces are rampant in some regions,and the regional fragmentation trend has also added obstacles to the“Five Connectivity”of Belt and Road.The success of the Belt and Road isn’t achieved in a short time,it is a long-term project,which needs to choose the mature development countries and regions to implement,and actively participate in promoting the solution of the hot issues.Countries in the region should cooperate with other regional countries closely,and accumulate various ties so as to lay solid foundation for the joint construction of the Belt and Road.President Xi Jinping pointed out in his Arab league speech:“People-to-people and cultural exchanges are the extension of the Belt and Road.To enhance the harmony should make much effort lowly in the long time.”The Chinese and Arab civilizations have their own systems and features,but they all share the common ideals and common aspirations of human development and progress,and pay attention to the values such as modesty,tolerance,self-discipline.Far-sighted personnel of the China and Arab states believe that we should open dialogues among civilizations,advocate the concept of inclusiveness and mutual learning,and explore the approach to the ethnic cultural traditions and the resonance point of thecontemporary era.

Fourthly,the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum have experienced 14 years history,withstood the test of global financial crisisand the upheavals in the Middle East,which has gradually become mature and stable. Communication, coordination and cooperation between China and Arab countries in international and regional affairshavebeen deepened and institutionalized.In today’s world,under the trend of unilateralism,trade protectionism and anti-globalization moves,standing at a crossroads,it’s necessary for human to put forward new development outlook,promote coordinated economic and social progress of all countries,address the problemscaused by unbalanced development,narrow the development gap, and promote common prosperity.Human need to uphold the cooperation view of openness,connectivity,mutual benefit and win-win cooperation,abandon the insular policy of self-interest and closing,safeguard the regulations of WTO,support the multilateral trade systems,and build opening world economy.The author believe that the Eighth Ministerial Meeting will have practical significance for inheriting the past,and ushering in the future to the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,which will open up new journey of China-Arab cooperation.Guided by theconcept of openness,integration,mutual benefit and win-win results,the road of mutual benefit cooperation between China and Arab countries will provide useful reference for the common prosperity of countriesand the development and growth of regional cooperation,which highlights the trend of the times in response to peace,development,cooperation and win-win progress.The meeting will draw a new blueprint for China-Arab cooperation and development at a new stage,and also be a beneficial exploration of world governance in major development,transformations and adjustments.To make every country share the development opportunities leading to prosperity is the understanding of “cooperation” in Chinese traditional culture and the concept supporting the China-Arab cooperation.China-Arab cooperation is an example of exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations,and the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum provides a practical path to support globalization.Diversity of civilizations is an inexhaustibledriving forcefor human progress,sothe exchanges and mutual learning among different civilizations are the common aspiration of all peoples.Facing the future,China will continue to cooperate with the west under the Belt and Road Initiative,and Arab countries will also continue to go east along the sea and land Silk Road.The Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is highly consistent with the ideal of the Arab states to seek prosperity and national rejuvenation.The author clearly aware that the joint development of Belt and Road under the framework of China-Arab Cooperation Forum is a great practice for China and Arab countries to jointly build a new type of international relations and a community of common destiny.To adapt to the new era of China-Arab relations,the two sides will strengthen exchanges,make both sides thought more convergence,jointly carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road so as to realize China-Arab two great rejuvenations,promote the construction of China-Arab community of common interest and destiny,and make great contribution to build a community of common destiny for human.