From December 7th to 10th, President Xi Jinping went to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to attend the first China-Arab States Summit and the first China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit and pay a state visit to Saudi Arabia.
This is President Xi Jinping's first visit to a country in the Middle East after the successful convening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
It has been brewing for a long time, has been expected for a long time, attracted worldwide attention, and achieved fruitful results.
Public opinion at home and abroad generally believes that President Xi Jinping's attendance at the "Three Ring Summits" of the leaders of China-Arabia, China-Sea, and China-Saudi Arabia is another major initiative in China's diplomacy and an epoch-making milestone.
(1) The historical dimension: the mutual understanding and mutual understanding of the two civilizations
"This is a journey of inheritance, but also a journey of creation. The purpose is to carry forward the traditional friendship between China and Arab states, China and Saudi Arabia, and usher in a new era of relations between China and the Arab world, Gulf Arab countries and Saudi Arabia."
On December 8, President Xi Jinping said in a signed article titled "Inheriting the Millennium Friendship and Creating a Bright Future Together" published by the Saudi Arabian newspaper Riyadh.
The time span of "millennium" was repeatedly mentioned by President Xi Jinping during his trip to Saudi Arabia.
Talking about Sino-Arab relations, President Xi Jinping said, "The exchanges between China and Arab countries can be traced back to more than 2,000 years ago"; regarding Sino-Ghai relations, President Xi Jinping said, "China has a history of friendly exchanges with the GCC countries for nearly two thousand years"; Regarding Sino-Saudi relations, President Xi Jinping pointed out that "Since ancient times, China and Saudi Arabia have appreciated each other and had friendly exchanges"...
Tracing back to the source is to draw wisdom and strength from history and clarify the direction of progress.
In the long history counted as "thousands of years", the two major civilizations of China and Arab states have flourished at both ends of the Asian continent. The two sides have known each other along the ancient Silk Road, shared weal and woe in the struggle for national liberation, and cooperated with each other in the wave of economic globalization. , sticking to morality in the ever-changing international situation, and wrote good stories about the integration of east and west, mutual learning, mutual help and mutual assistance.
True civilizations know how to respect each other.
Under the current international situation, China and Arab states jointly promote the common values of all mankind, such as peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, and set up a model of exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations in the new era. This is not only a continuation of the millennium friendship, but also has great practical significance and profound historical significance.
(2) Dimension of Reality: Strategic Choice under Changing Situation
"Currently, the century-old changes are accelerating, the century-old epidemic has repeatedly delayed, and the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change. The holding of the first China-Arab Summit is a strategic choice for both sides to strengthen solidarity and cooperation under the current situation."
This is what the Chinese Foreign Ministry said about President Xi Jinping's trip to Saudi Arabia, especially the first China-Arab Summit.
At present, China has embarked on a new journey of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way, and is promoting the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation through Chinese-style modernization; Arab countries are also facing the historical task of realizing national rejuvenation and accelerating national development.
Similar historical experiences, the same development dream, and mutual trust and support make China and Arab countries attracted to each other and come together firmly.
In the past 10 years, China-Arab relations have entered a new era, and a series of landmark and breakthrough achievements have been made in various fields.
Just taking the economic and trade field as an example, in the past 10 years, the Sino-Arab trade volume has increased by 100 billion US dollars, with a total of more than 300 billion US dollars; China's direct investment in Arab countries has increased by 2.6 times, and the stock has reached 23 billion US dollars; the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" has implemented more than 200 This project has benefited nearly 2 billion people on both sides... The solid and heavy results have demonstrated the huge potential of China-Arab cooperation.
During his trip to Saudi Arabia, President Xi Jinping profoundly expounded on the spirit of China-Arab friendship of "mutual assistance, equality and mutual benefit, inclusiveness and mutual learning". Eight common actions" and the five key areas of China-GSL cooperation received positive responses from all parties present.
The results are fruitful and bright.
The Chinese side's statements, such as "making full use of the platform of the Shanghai Oil and Gas Trading Center to carry out RMB settlement of oil and gas trade", "strengthening 5G and 6G technology cooperation", and "welcoming astronauts from the GCC countries to enter the Chinese space station", have attracted great attention and heated discussions from the international public.
A series of declarations, joint statements, and cooperation documents have demonstrated the positive will of China-Arabia, China-Sea, and China-Saudi Arabia to unite and cooperate.
The population of China and the Arab countries accounts for about a quarter of the world's total population. Strengthening cooperation between the two sides is of great significance to the international political, economic, and civilized structures.
The holding of the "Three Rings Summit" of the leaders of China-Arabia, China-Sea, and China-Saudi Arabia fully demonstrates that solidarity and cooperation, mutual respect, equal treatment, mutual benefit and win-win results are the aspirations of the international community and the trend of the times.
(3) Future Dimension: A Journey to the Great Way with a Shared Destiny
"Unanimously agreed to make every effort to build a China-Arab community with a shared future for the new era, aiming to strengthen China-Arab solidarity and cooperation, help their respective national rejuvenation, promote regional peace and development, maintain international fairness and justice, and contribute to the building of a community with a shared future for mankind" - "The First China-Arab Community As stated in the Riyadh Declaration.
Amid the world's major changes unseen in a century, China and the Arab countries have announced to join hands to build a community of shared future, which shows that the concept of building a community of shared future for mankind has won increasingly wide recognition and welcome in the world, and indicates that the promotion of building a community of shared future for mankind will continue to transform from consensus for action.
It has been nearly 10 years since President Xi Jinping first explained to the international community the concept of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
In the past 10 years, under the leadership of the head of state diplomacy, the major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics has been magnificent, and the concept of promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind has been consistent.
Looking back at 2022, from the "Winter Olympics" at the beginning of the year to the "Head of State Diplomacy Month" at the end of the year, under the banner of promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, China's diplomacy has achieved fruitful results.
The trip to Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East... China has reached important results with relevant parties on the joint construction of a bilateral community of shared future and a regional community of shared future.
The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that building a community with a shared future for mankind is the future of the people of all countries in the world.
This trip to Saudi Arabia once again showed the world that facing the future, China will continue to walk hand in hand with all progressive forces in the world on the bright road of building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Curators: Ni Siyi, Huo Xiaoguang
Chief Writers: Yang Yijun, Wen Wen, Hu Guan
Coordinator: Liu Hua, Huang Quanquan, Wang Xuan
Visual | Editor: Bao Yuhan
Co-produced by the domestic and international departments of Xinhua News Agency
Produced by Xinhua News Agency First Studio