As the first Chinese leader to visit a foreign country in the New Year, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has concluded his visit to the Middle East – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. This is the first time that a Chinese premier visit the UAE and Qatar and another visit to Saudi Arabia after 20 years. Against such a special background, premier Wen’s trip to the Gulf region attracted extensive attention from the international community. Some people believe that China hopes to take advantage of the regional tensions to expand influence; others think this is a “trip for energy”. Then what did the Chinese premier brought to the region on that trip?
Firstly, the Chinese premier brought confidence and hope which are the urgent need for Middle East.
Confidence is the belief that the prople of the Middle East are capable of solving their problems by themselves. With a special localtion linking five seas and three continents, sharp contradictions always exist in Middle East regarding nationality, religion, territory, and resources. Besides, with long-term interference by external forces, the environments become more complex. Under the chaotic current circumstances, some countries are striving for global hegemony and controlling energy supply, some are trying to maintain traditional forces, others are trying to expand their own advantages to crowd out competitors. The chaos is making the situation more complex.
The hope is the Chinese people’s sincere wish to see the Middle East countries return to peace and stability. After more than a year’s unrest, they are eager for a peaceful and stable environment to develop economy and improve people’s livelihood. This visit form China brought to the Middle East Chinese people’s deep friendship and firm stance of China as a responsible power. China will support Arab States pursuing national liberation. As to the situation in West Asia and North Africa, China will respect the choice of the people in those countries, understand and support their appeal for reforms. These policies narrowed the distance between the people from China and Arab. For their political mutual trust in Chinese policies, Arab people are glad to develop friendly relationship with China to jointly face various challenges and issues.
Secondly, Chinese premier brought all-round cooperation with Arab states.
Some of the Western media are likely to report this visit from the perspective of securing energy supplies. Like most other countries in the world, fine cooperation has been kept between China and Arab States in the energy field. However, this is not the only relation between China and Arab states. China and Arab countries have begun friendly exchanges since New China was founded in 1949. At that time, China didn’t import petroleum. The friendly China-Arab cooperation has stood the test of time. As a developing country and resource-rich countries, we should deepen mutually beneficial cooperation for common development. During the visit, cooperation documents have been signed with these three countries in such fields as trade, finance, new energy, education, and culture. China will continue to build a long-term and stable China-Arab mutually beneficial cooperative relationship.
Finally, Chinese premier brought mutual respect and friendship to the Islam civilization.
Under the influence of the theory of “Clash of Civilizations”, some countries seem to have forgotten due respect for other nations as well as the important contribution the Islamic Civilization has made to humanity. Long-term mutual understanding and exchanges have existed between Chinese civilization and Islam civilization. During the trip, Premier Wen made deep exchanges with the leaders of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Islam Cooperation Organization, visited Turkish and Islamic Works Museum, went to the coffee shop and talked with people warmly. The inclusiveness and modesty of Chinese civilization have been presented to the public. The two major civilizations have “no historical grievances and no practical problems”, which is the solid foundation for them to deepen friendly cooperation. With the effort from both sides, the cooperation will be “like the date-palm trees in desert oasis – it will always live in each kind of conditions”.
