Mr. Mohamed Saleh, Bahrain participant of the first Arab Officials Seminar, the Counsellor of the Arab Affairs Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, published a paper entitled “Sino-Arab Relations: Contemporary Challenges in the October 2018 issue of the Arab Future magazine (total issue 476). In this paper, the author discusses the challenges facing the relationship between China and Arab countries.
The paper is divided into four parts:
China and the Arab Spring. This part mentioned that apart from the Syrian crisis, the Arab Spring did not affect the relations between the two countries. The reasons for China's attitude can be attributed to five points: 1. China is worried that the Syrian crisis will spread the war to the surrounding areas and thus affect China's interests. 2. Worried about the spread of terrorism, threatening the unity and stability of the country. 3. It is determined by the foreign policy of China's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. 4. Due to the problems of Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia within China, it is impossible for China to support interventions of Western countries. 5. The ideological and cultural influence of China's golden mean.
The impact of China's efforts in the cultivation of energy on the relationship between China and Arab countries. In this part, the author believes that although China's progress and research results in the field of renewable energy can become an experience and will certainly benefit the future development of the Arab countries. However, the relationship between the two countries is always based on the traditional energy, China’s development in the field of renewable energy forms a challenge to the relationship between China and Arab countries.
Other challenges facing the cooperation between China and Arab countries. Apart from the detailed description of the energy challenges in the second part, the following challenges still exists in the Sino-Arab relationship: 1. Some Arab countries pay less attention to China; 2. Arab countries have less research on China; 3. Western media’s negative impacts; 4. The role of the Arab mission in China is too weak; 5. Some Arab countries and regions lack of security and stability; 6. Ignore the importance of cultural factors, including cultural cooperation, mutual visits, media, etc. Both sides have insufficient efforts in the field of translation.
The future of Sino-Arab relations. The author points out that although the Sino-Arab relationship has made great progress, it still has not reached the desired level. Since President Xi Jinping proposed the “Belt and Road” initiative in 2013, the two sides should work together to enhance cooperation in the public media, promote exchanges and visits, and reinforce cooperation in the field of science and technology.
The full text of Arabic is as follows: