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中國/阿拉伯諸國貿易展 - Kandy Wong
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China-Arab states expo wraps up with US$23.4 billion worth of deals
* The event involved representatives from more than 60 countries and hundreds of Chinese and foreign companies
* China is keen to promote trade ties with the Arab world as part of its overall drive to expand its influence in the region
Kandy Wong, South China Morning Post, 09/24/23
A trade fair designed to foster closer ties between China and the Arab world ended on Sunday with companies signing deals worth a total of 171 billion yuan (US$23.4 billion) in sectors such as trade, agriculture, energy, green transition and medical care, state media reported.
The sixth China-Arab States Expo in Yinchuan, in the northwestern region of Ningxia, was attended by officials from more than 60 countries and more than 1,000 representatives of foreign agencies in China, according to official news agency Xinhua.
It also said that more than 220 foreign chambers and foreign companies and over 150 Chinese businesses were represented. No details on the individual companies involved in the deals have been released.
The expo also held a tech transfer and innovation conference, where eight deals were signed between Chinese agencies and research bodies or laboratories from countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar on desertification treatment and smart agriculture.
China has moved closer to a number of Middle Eastern nations over the past year, trying to capitalise on the relative decline in US interest and influence in the region.
As well as trade, Beijing has also boosted its profile by brokering a deal to restore diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
According to the expo's official account on WeChat, both China and Arab countries agree on the need to strengthen agricultural exchanges.
The deals signed included 3.4 billion yuan in agricultural agreements, while Chinese companies used the event to showcase 300 agricultural, maritime and anti-pollution technologies which state media said would meet the needs of Arab states.
The total trade in agricultural products between China and Arab countries reached US$5 billion last year, twice the 2016 figure, according to Beijing's official data.
Zhang Enhong, the director of the Chinese centre of animal husbandry technology in Mauritania, told Xinhua Chinese scientists had helped improve soil quality in the North African country and been experimenting on 34 types of forage crops for livestock.
"Animal husbandry is one of the pillar industries in this country in northwest Africa, but 80 per cent of its lands are desert and its dry season is long," he said.
"That's why the traditional way of grazing doesn't work and there's a need to find the right crops for sustaining the industry."
China's President Xi Jinping proposed eight major initiatives at the first China-Arab States Summit held in Riyadh in December, one of which concerned food security.
Xi pledged to set up five joint modern agriculture laboratories and 50 demonstration projects, adding China will also send 500 scientists to Arab countries to help increase grain yields.
John Oliver - a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington - said that the economic relationship between the Middle East and China is "mutually beneficial".
"The port and free zone of Jebel Ali [in southwestern Dubai] is one of the world's major ports and a key re-export zone for products from China and elsewhere," he said.
"The port of Fujairah [also in the United Arab Emirates] is the world's second busiest bunkering [refuelling cargo ships] port, which makes it a key stop for goods flowing to and from China."
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中國對阿拉伯世界的笑臉攻勢 - Laura Zhou
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President Xi Jinping to welcome Arab state leaders to China, with Israel-Gaza war, Palestine and trade on the agenda
* Leaders of Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia and UAE to visit Beijing for meetings with Xi and ministerial conference of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum
* China might also be looking to seal a long-sought free-trade deal with gulf states that reportedly previously stalled over Saudi concerns
Laura Zhou, South China Morning Post, 05/27/24
The Israel-Gaza war and the Palestine issue, as well as a free-trade deal between China and Gulf states, will be high on the agenda when President Xi Jinping hosts a number of Arab leaders in Beijing, observers say.
The visits mark the launch of China's latest diplomatic charm offensive with the Arab world amid its rivalry with the United States.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, Tunisian President Kais Saied and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will "pay state visits" to China from Tuesday, according to Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.
The leaders would also attend the opening ceremony of the 10th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, Hua said on Monday.
Speaking at a briefing in Beijing on Monday morning, foreign vice-minister Deng Li said Xi would hold separate meetings with the four state leaders and "exchange views regarding bilateral ties and regional and international issues of common concern".
The Chinese leader would also attend the opening ceremony of the conference and deliver a keynote speech on Thursday, Deng said, adding that the attendance of the four state leaders reflected "unity between China and the Arab world".
Established two decades ago during a visit to Cairo by then president Hu Jintao, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum is a mechanism between China and 22 members of the League of Arab States, which also includes Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Palestine, Kuwait and Qatar.
Under the mechanism, foreign ministers of the 23 countries meet every two years to discuss cooperation between China and Arab nations "in the fields of politics, economy and security". In recent years, senior officials have also met from time to time to talk about deepening ties on energy, technology and public health.
On Monday, Deng said the foreign ministers of China and the Arab countries would "continue to have in-depth discussion of the Palestinian issue ... so as to issue a common voice between China and Arab countries".
"The goal is to end the Gaza conflict as soon as possible and realise peace, and at the same time promote the international community's determination to implement the 'two-state solution' with greater determination and more concrete actions to ultimately achieve long-term peace and stability in the Middle East region," Deng said.
Beijing has long said the two-state solution - a proposed framework for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by establishing Israeli and Palestinian states alongside each other - would be the only way out of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The concept has been also supported by major powers the US and its allies, as well as most Arab states and the United Nations.
Fan Hongda, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University, said the ongoing Gaza crisis and the Palestinian issue would "definitely be high on the agenda".
"But it remains to be seen what kind of substantial effect can be achieved."
He said China might also be looking to seal a long-sought free-trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council when the top diplomats meet in Beijing.
The two sides started negotiations as early as 2004, with all six members of the council - the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman - also part of the League of Arab States.
In January, Chen Weiqing, who was then China's top envoy to Saudi Arabia, said about 90 per cent of the terms of the free-trade negotiations between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries had been completed.
However, two months later, Reuters cited sources as saying talks had stalled over Saudi concerns that cheap Chinese products could compromise Riyadh's ambitions to transform the kingdom into an industrial powerhouse.
Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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