Recently, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Turkey and Iran, as well as the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), paid visits to China. This is another round of intensive interactions between China and the Middle East region following State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi's seven-day visit to six Middle East countries in March last year. In the face of uncertainties caused by changes in the past century and the impact of COVID-19, Middle East countries have stepped up cooperation with China in various fields, injecting new impetus into the economic development of both sides and the world at large, and playing a more positive role in promoting world peace and development.
China will continue to help Middle East countries diversify and transform their economies. As a result of COVID-19, global industrial and supply chains are disrupted, commodity prices continue to rise, and energy supply is strained, and risks are intertwined, adding to uncertainties in the process of economic recovery. In this context, Countries in the Middle East hope to get rid of excessive dependence on oil, reshape their economic development model and take the express train of China's rapid economic development. During the visit, the Foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkey expressed their willingness to strengthen the synergy of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, Kuwait's National Vision 2035 and Turkey's Middle Corridor plan with the BELT and Road Initiative. China and many Middle Eastern countries will further expand cooperation in 5G, big data, e-commerce and new energy. China and the GCC also agreed to conclude negotiations on a China-CSPC free Trade Agreement as soon as possible, hold the fourth China-CSPC Strategic Dialogue as soon as possible, and jointly formulate and sign an action plan for the strategic dialogue in the next three years, so as to inject new content and expand new areas of bilateral cooperation. In 2022, China and Arab states will hold the first China-Arab States Summit to jointly build an Arab community with a shared future for the new era. This will also provide an important opportunity to upgrade China's relations with Middle East countries.
China will further strengthen cooperation with Middle East countries in fighting the epidemic. In the past two years, China's selfless assistance and sincere cooperation in the face of the continuing outbreak of COVID-19 has given a huge boost to people in the Middle East to bridge the "immunization gap". At present, China and the UAE are making solid progress in the joint filling of Chinese vaccine production line, and have carried out phase III international clinical trial of the world's first inactivated COVID-19 vaccine. Egypt is the first country on the African continent to cooperate with China in the production of COVID-19 vaccines by purchasing large quantities of Chinese medicine vaccines and sinovac vaccine stock from China. In the future, more and more Middle East countries will use COVID-19 vaccines from China, and China and Middle East countries will carry out practical cooperation on promoting equitable distribution of vaccines and joint research and development of anti-epidemic drugs on the basis of cooperation in vaccine research and development.
China will continue to contribute to security and stability in the Middle East. Over the years, the Middle East has been suffering from great power game and geopolitical rivalry. In order to safeguard its hegemonic selfish interests, a certain Western power has long provoked confrontation between factions, incited "color revolution", promoted so-called "democratic transformation", and even blatantly launched wars in the Middle East, seriously undermining regional peace and stability. China maintains that the Middle East belongs only to its people, not to anyone else. China has put forward a five-point proposal for security and stability in the Middle East, a four-point proposal for the resolution of the Syrian issue and a three-point approach for the implementation of the Two-state solution between Palestine and Israel. China has played a constructive role in achieving peace and stability in the Middle East, which has been highly praised by Middle East countries. GCC Secretary-General Nayef said the GCC highly appreciates China's important influence and positive role in international and regional affairs and firmly believes that sea-China cooperation is conducive to the stability and development of the Gulf region.
In the future, China will continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Middle East countries, jointly practice genuine multilateralism, safeguard regional peace and stability, promote economic prosperity and development and constantly upgrade bilateral relations.
(Liu Chang, Research Assistant at the Institute of Developing Countries, China Institute of International Studies, Originally published in THE PLA Daily, January 25, 2022, fourth edition)
