More Arabs want to know China's way to success

DUBAI -- More Arabs now want to know China's way to success as the country has scored remarkable economic, cultural and social achievements over the last decades, an Egyptian expert said here on Wednesday.

"Arabs no longer look only to the West to learn about economic success. Today they are increasingly eager to learn from China's way to success," said Ahmed Al-Saeed, an Egyptian cultural expert on China-Arab relations, when he presented his new book titled "The Way of China" and written in the Arabic language.

"That is why I called my book The Way of China," said Al-Saeed on the opening day of the 33rd Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF).

Arabs are eager to learn how China transformed itself from an economy based on heavy industry and agriculture into the world's second largest economy, Al-Saeed told Xinhua.

He said that his book shows the true picture of China's economic, cultural and social achievements since the "gigantic and complex country" opened up to the outside world.

However, he said China still faces challenges to express itself in the world, and that Chinese people were curious about the world but were still at the early stage to learn about the world, especially about the Middle East.

The book, co-authored by Li Huangxie, a specialist on international and Middle East studies, covers China's economic, cultural and social improvements in the last decades.

Al-Saeed attended a panel discussion about China-Arab relations with experts who contributed quotes and studies to the book.

Professor Essam Sharaf, former prime minister of Egypt, explained in his speech the common denominators between the Arabic culture and Chinese culture and the revival of the ancient Silk Road.

Both Arabs and Chinese share the values of family, clan and people and are proud of their history, said Sharaf. Social harmony and a sustainable development are also high on the agenda of both peoples who prefer a "right over might" attitude when dealing with challenges.

Professor Zhang Weiwei from China's Fudan university pointed out that the new East-meets-East wave which has emerged in the Middle East and the Far East was based on China's foreign policy of non-interference, a policy which is welcomed in Arab countries as most of them suffered from foreign interference and European colonialism in the past.

Zheng Lei, director of China Intercontinental Press which published the book, said he hoped the book would contribute to a new discussion about the Sino-Arab value sharing and future relations.

Fascinated by the stronger Arab-Chinese relations, Al-Saeed told Xinhua he planned to write more books on the topic in the future, he said.

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