New paper points way for Sino-Arab ties

China's first Arab policy paper, issued on Wednesday, aims to draw a blueprint for future cooperation with the key region, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday as the unexpected report came into public view.

The document was released as China plays a more active role in diplomatic and economic affairs related to the Arab world. 

"The report aims to wrap up historical experience and hints at developing China-Arab relations and planning key fields and the direction of China-Arab friendly cooperation," Hong said.

The paper of 7,600 Chinese characters covers almost every aspect of China's cooperation with the Arab world and says China is willing to coordinate development strategies with Arab states.

It highlights a planned "1+2+3" cooperation pattern, which takes energy cooperation as the core, infrastructure construction and trade and investment facilitation as "two wings", and the three high-tech fields of nuclear energy, satellites and new energy as the three "breakthroughs".

According to the paper, Arab countries as a whole have become China's biggest supplier of crude oil and its seventh-biggest trading partner.

"Unlike in the 1990s, when the focus of China's interest in the Middle East was mainly economic, or in the time before that, when China-Arab cooperation focused on mutual political support, now China has ‘all-round' interests in the Middle East, including in politics, economy and security," Niu said.

Ferhat Ait Ali, an Algerian financial analyst and political expert, said it affirmed China's respect for the characteristics of each state and nation in the Arab world.

"Affirming its intention to cooperate with each of these states, taking into account their local characteristics, China makes sure to reiterate its rejection of extremism, ostracism and the spread of ideas contrary to being a good neighbor with the rest of mankind," Xinhua News Agency quoted the expert as saying.

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