Foreign and Military Affairs

Everyone a winner in Sino-Arab discussions

By CHENG GUANGJIN AND ZHONG NAN (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-05-12 09:04

Beijing - A win-win result lies ahead in China-Arab relations with cooperation in various areas to be accelerated in the next two years, said analysts before a two-day forum between high-ranking officials.

"China has provided investment and technologies for helping a number of Arabian states build a better economic environment and new emerging problems will be discussed and resolved through the forum," said Zhang Xiaodong, deputy chief of the Chinese Association for Middle East Studies.

He said the two sides "will discuss new agendas for the next two years for accelerating trade, energy, environmental, transnational human resource and technological cooperation."

The forum will be held from May 13 to 14 in China's eastern port city of Tianjin.

The fourth Ministerial Meeting of China-Arab Cooperation Forum, held every two years since 2004, will discuss upgrading the relationship to a strategic level, Song Aiguo, director general of the Department of West Asia and North Africa at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said in a news briefing last week.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, Libyan Foreign Minister Mousa Kousa and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa will co-chair the forum, which will be attended by foreign ministers and representatives from China and 22 Arab countries.

Zhang noted that the contradiction between wealthy Gulf States and states without oil products was likely to be highlighted during the forum, because some Arabian states have imbalanced trade balances with China.

What is also likely to be discussed at the forum is the trade competition between China and some Arabian countries like Tunisia and Egypt, which produce a large quantity of light industrial exports, according to Zhang.

"Both sides should narrow the areas of divergence and strengthen political, economic and civil cooperation," he said.

Cooperation in politics, trade and culture between the two sides has been increasing, hitting almost $110 billion in 2009, about 100 times more than 30 years ago.

Song stressed that energy cooperation was just one part of China-Arab trade ties.

"China and Arab states both belong to developing countries and face the task of safeguarding national sovereignty and promoting economic development," said Song.

"They also share extensive interests on dealing with non-traditional security threats and pushing for a fair and rational new international political and economic order," Song said.

Concerning security and stability in the Middle East, "the Arab states wish China would play a more influential role in the nuclear issue of Iran, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and anti-terrorism", said Zhang.

Both China and Arab states have promoted a nuclear-free Middle East in the ongoing review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York.

The Associated Press reported earlier that Egypt proposed the review call for negotiations next year on a nuclear-free Middle East.

During a closed-door session at the Arab League summit in March, Arab leaders called upon the UN to hold a conference to establish the Middle East as a nuclear-free region, Deutsche Presse Agentur reported.

Many Arab countries believe Israel and Iran are developing nuclear weapons under the guise of civil programs, according to Gong Shaopeng, a professor with China Foreign Affairs University. Neither country is a member in the Arab League.

Israel is not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

China supports a nuclear- free Middle East through a policy characterized by nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, peaceful use of nuclear power and nuclear security, said Gong.

"China supports the civilian use of nuclear energy in the Arab league," said Gong, noting the case of nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE government issued a white paper on the peaceful development of nuclear energy in 2008, which China supported, according to the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu.

"China applauds the UAE's efforts in taking a transparent and responsible approach to implementing its plan of developing nuclear energy peacefully in accordance with international law," Jiang said.

CHINA DAILY