Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with his counterparts on the sideline of China-Arab Cooperation Forum meeting in Beijing.
China’s efforts to better integrate with the Arab League pairs with the renewed focus it has put on Belt and Road investment in the region amid an incoherent US Middle East policy.
Today’s conference will display Beijing’s investment capabilities and track record for funding major development initiatives.
China’s work in this regard comes as many states in the Middle East, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, grapple with surging youth populations and investment-starved economies.
Arab League states are looking to accelerate relations that barely existed a decade ago.
Growing economic sophistication, access to the world’s largest consumer market and a mounting source of development assistance and infrastructure financing through its Belt and Road Initiative mean that relations between China and the Middle East are expected to continue growing in coming years.
For its part, Beijing is likely to continue its current course of acquiring and investing in major ports and infrastructure projects in the region (and outside it) to boost economic interdependence.
