The first China Arab Summit is about to be held, and the development of China Arab relations ushers in a new milestone. In recent years, China Arab strategic partnership has continued to make new progress, and practical cooperation has been continuously upgraded. The convening of the first China Arab Summit is of historic significance and will certainly inject more powerful impetus into the development of China Arab relations and push forward the building of a community of common destiny between China and Arab countries.

"If you don't see it, you can go; if you don't forget it, you can come."   China Arab friendship has a long history, dating back to the ancient Silk Road more than 2000 years ago. In the more than 70 years since the founding of New China, China and Arab countries have worked together with one another in the struggle for national independence and national rejuvenation. They have been united on the world political and economic stage and have achieved win-win cooperation. The breadth and depth of bilateral friendly cooperation have achieved historic leaps and become a model of South South cooperation.

China and Arab States Establish the Foundation of Comprehensive Cooperation

The political mutual trust between China and Argentina has been growing.   In January 2016, the Chinese government formulated the first China's Policy Document on Arab Countries, which plans the key areas and priority directions of China Arab cooperation. In recent years, China and Arab countries have risen significantly in their respective foreign strategies. China and Arab countries have established a strategic partnership of comprehensive cooperation, common development and future orientation, and have established 12 pairs of strategic partnerships at the bilateral level. The Arab world has become a highly concentrated area of China's strategic partnership.

Both sides have always understood and supported each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns. At the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, political turmoil occurred in some Arab countries. China firmly supports Arab countries to achieve stability and development as soon as possible, and opposes external forces interfering in the internal affairs of Arab countries under the banner of "democracy". In recent years, China has successively put forward a series of initiatives and propositions, such as the five point initiative on achieving security and stability in the Middle East, the four point proposal on political settlement of the Syrian issue, and the three point idea of implementing the Palestinian Israeli "two country plan", which have been highly recognized by the Middle East countries. The Arab countries have always given strong and firm support to China on issues involving China's core interests and major concerns, such as Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and human rights, and supported the Chinese government's policy stance through the collective voice of the League of Arab States.

Jointly build the the Belt and Road

The economic advantages of China and Arab countries are complementary, and bilateral practical cooperation has been continuously upgraded. At present, 20 Arab countries and the Arab League have signed the cooperation document of jointly building the "the Belt and Road". The two sides have implemented more than 200 large-scale cooperation projects in energy, infrastructure and other fields, and the results of cooperation have benefited nearly 2 billion people of both sides. The "China built" projects such as the Lusser Stadium in Qatar have achieved good economic and social benefits, which have been printed on the currencies of these countries. The Central Business District project of Egypt's new capital, undertaken by Chinese enterprises, has lifted a beautiful skyline across Africa. China Arab energy strategic partnership featuring mutual benefit and long-term friendship has been actively built, with breakthroughs in high-tech cooperation and deepening of digital cooperation. China Arab two-way investment and economic and trade exchanges have achieved multiple growth in recent years. In 2021, the stock of two-way direct investment between China and Arab countries will reach 27 billion US dollars, 2.6 times higher than 10 years ago; The trade volume between China and Argentina reached 330.3 billion US dollars, 1.5 times higher than 10 years ago.

People to people and cultural exchanges between China and Arab countries have continued to expand, and the bridge linking people to people has become more open. Since 2013, China has trained 25000 talents of all kinds for Arab countries and provided about 11000 government scholarships to Arab countries. As of October 2022, four Arab countries have announced that Chinese will be included in the national education system, and 15 Arab countries have set up local Chinese colleges and departments. Under the framework of the China Arab Cooperation Forum, the two sides have established such people to people and cultural exchange mechanisms as the Arab Art Festival/China Art Festival, the China Arab News Cooperation Forum, and the China Arab Health Forum. China and Arab countries adhere to mutual learning of civilizations and have successfully held the 9th China Arab Relations and China Arab Civilization Dialogue Seminar. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, China and Arab countries have stood guard and helped each other, and effectively cooperated in vaccine research and use, joint prevention and control, etc., jointly interpreting the true meaning of "shared destiny".

China and Arab countries are both important political forces on the international stage. In the face of the international environment of turmoil and interweaving, the two sides are more determined to develop friendly relations. Facing the future, China is willing to work with Arab countries to constantly enrich and deepen the pattern of China Arab all-round, multi-level and wide-ranging cooperation, constantly inject new impetus into building a China Arab community of common destiny for a new era, and jointly make new and greater contributions to promoting solidarity and cooperation among developing countries and safeguarding world peace and development.Editor/Xing Wentao