Editor's note: Wang Jin is a Middle East expert from Northwest University of China. The article reflects the author's opinion and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

Although distant neighbors, China and Arab states have an ancient relationship that could date back to 2000 years ago. Nonetheless, during the last decade, China and the Arab states have witnessed substantial progress, while the cooperation between China and Arab states expanded into various fields.

The friendship between China and Arab states is constructed upon the shared campaign against imperialism and colonialism. On the one hand, China endorsed Arab people's rights to choose their own economic and political system. For example, China supported Egypt in 1956 to resist invasions from Britain, France and Israel, and supported Lebanon against interventions from the U.S. in 1958. China has also been strongly supporting Palestine's nationhood ever since the 1960s. On the other hand, Arab states supported China's permanent seat at the UN Security Council in 1971, and many Arab states established diplomatic ties with China from the 1950s to 1970s.

From the late 1970s, new opportunities emerge for bilateral cooperation between China and Arab nations. In 1978, China engaged in an ambitious opening to the world economy. Slowly but steadily, during the past four decades, China accelerated its development policy and has become the world's second-largest economy. With the rapidly growing industrial capabilities and expanding market, China attracts more and more Arab businessmen to seek cooperation. The "made-in-China" products flood the markets of Arab states, while the connections between China and Arab states strengthened.

The geographic importance of the Arab states for China is highlighted. For China, of the four main shipping chokepoints, namely Gibraltar, Malacca, Hormuz, and Bab-al-Mandab, two are in the Arab world. Nearly half of China's oil and gas imports transit through the Strait of Hormuz, while Bab-al-Mandab is an important channel for China's exports to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe and oil imports from Algeria, Libya, and Sudan. Given China's growing market demands and economy, the geographic importance of Arab states would be further stressed. During the past decade, China involved deeply in local projects of Arab states. China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, the China-Oman Industrial Park, and the China-United Arab Emirates (UAE) Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park are the major examples.

In 2013, China put forward the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was welcomed by Arab states. In 2014, China proposed the China-Arab States Community with a Shared Future, an initiative warmly received and welcomed by Arab states. The Declaration of Action on China-Arab States Cooperation under the BRI, signed in 2018 between China and the League of Arab States, is the first of its kind between China and a regional organization.

In June of 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined the framework of "1+2+3" to direct the future cooperation between China and Arab states. The "1+2+3" framework takes energy cooperation as the core, infrastructure construction and trade and investment facilitation as the two wings, and three high and new tech fields of nuclear energy, space satellite and new energy as the three breakthroughs. The framework of "1+2+3" becomes the fundamental guideline for China to develop cooperation with Arab states.

Meanwhile, cooperation mechanisms have been established by China and the Arab states. From the bilateral level, China established a comprehensive strategic partnership with Algeria and Egypt in 2014, with Saudi Arabia in 2016, and with the UAE in 2016, and established a strategic partnership with Qatar in 2014, with Iraq in 2015, Morocco in 2016, with Oman and Kuwait in 2018. Until January of 2022, 20 Arab states have reached cooperative agreements with China under the BRI, and meaningful achievements are being realized in various fields covering energy, investment, trade, finance, infrastructure and high-tech.

At the multilateral level, China and Arab states established the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in 2004 and held the first China-Arab States Expo in 2013. In 2018, the Declaration of Action on China-Arab States Cooperation under the BRI was signed by China and Arab states in the eighth ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, which directed the cooperation between China and Arab states.

In the recent years, space technology and healthcare have become new cooperative fields between China and Arab states. China signed cooperative agreements with Egypt, Algeria, Sudan and Saudi Arabia to co-develop space technologies and satellite technologies. In December of 2021, China and Arab states announced that they will jointly implement at least five pilot projects, based on China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, in key application domains between 2022 and 2023. To combat the COVID-19 that broke out in early 2020, China's medical companies Sinopharm and Sinovac signed cooperative agreements with the UAE and Egypt to produce the vaccines.

Arab states believe that it is important to develop a peaceful and mutually beneficial cooperative relationship with China. China's economic success and social development make some Arab states regard China as a model. China, as one of the largest developing states, has successfully transformed itself from a semi-colony and semi-feudal state into the world's second-largest economy. China proposes an alternative to the Western system, and many Arab states seek to make the best of China's model as the solution to their domestic problems.

Both China and the Arab nations have splendid civilizations, and both have experienced setbacks and humiliations in the changing modern times. Therefore, national rejuvenation has become the goal of both China and Arab countries. China and Arab nations under the cooperative direction of the new Silk Road are to realize the Chinese Dream and Arab revitalization.

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