China and Arab states have adopted a series of outcome documents during the 10th ministerial conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) held in Beijing in late May.
These include the Beijing Declaration, the CASCF execution plan for 2024-2026 and a China-Arab states joint statement on the Palestinian issue.
The Beijing Declaration, according to China’s State Xinhua News Agency, clarifies the practical path for “promoting the building of a China-Arab community with a shared future.” It reaffirms that China and Arab states will continue to support each other on core interests, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and expound their shared positions on the political resolution of regional hotspot issues, dialogue among civilizations, global governance, counterterrorism, human rights, AI and climate change.
The execution plan, Xinhua said, charts the course for strengthening the building of a forum mechanism in the next two years and promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation in fields such as politics, economy and trade, investment, finance, infrastructure, resources and environment, cultural exchange, aerospace, education and health.
The joint statement expresses deep concerns by China and Arab states over the prolonged conflict in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis. It promotes a ceasefire in Gaza and appeals to ensure humanitarian aid gets through. It also supports Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations, and calls for working toward an early resolution of the Palestinian issue based on the twostate solution.
At the CASCF opening ceremony, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech in which he emphasized that “building a China-Arab community with a shared future is a strong statement of our common desire for a new era of China-Arab relations and a better future for the world” and that “China will work with the Arab side as good partners to make our relations a model for maintaining world peace and stability.”
Xi listed “five cooperation frameworks” to what he said was the “shared future,” including a more dynamic framework for innovation, an expanded framework for investment and finance cooperation, a more multifaceted framework for energy cooperation, a more balanced framework for mutually beneficial economic and trade ties and a broader framework for people-to-people exchanges.
At a press briefing concerning the CASCF on May 27, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Deng Li said that China’s relations with many Arab countries have developed from a “partnership” to that of a “strategic cooperative relationship” and then to “strategic partnership.” He stressed that advancing China-Arab ties is very important to promote peace and development in the Middle East.
Arab states all spoke highly of the CASCF, Xinhua reported. The Secretary-General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said that the forum reflects a common desire to build “strong relations” and that the relationship between the two sides is growing stronger. Magdy Amer, former Egyptian ambassador to China, said that the Belt and Road Initiative and the cooperation forum have promoted Arab-Chinese relations to a completely different level.
Data from Chinese customs shows that total goods trade volume between China and members of the Arab League shot up to 2.8 trillion yuan (US$393.8b) in 2023 from 303.8 billion yuan (US$41.9b) in 2004 when the CASCF was established, an increase of 820.9 percent.
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Egypt’s President AbdelFattah al-Sisi, Tunisia’s President Kais Saied, and the United Arab Emirates’ President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended the latest CASCF when they paid a state visit to Beijing from May 28 to June 1. Xi also announced that China will host the second China-Arab states summit in 2026.
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