President Xi Jinping Attends the First China-GCC Leaders’ Meeting and Delivers a Keynote Speech

On the afternoon of December 9 local time, the first China-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Leaders’ Meeting was held at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh. President Xi Jinping with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain France, Saudi Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Jaber Ahmed Sabah attended the summit Kuwait, Oman Deputy Prime Minister Saeed Fahad bin Mahmoud Al Saeed, UAE Fujai Raja ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammad al-Shaqi and GCC secretary-general Naif Farah Hajiraf. The summit decided to establish and strengthen the China-GCC strategic partnership.

President Xi delivered a keynote speech entitled “Building on the past and ushering in the future to jointly create a bright future for China-Ghailand relations”.

President Xi pointed out that the friendly exchanges between China and GCC countries have a history of nearly two thousand years. In 1981, when the GCC was first established, China established ties with the GCC. For more than 40 years, the two sides have jointly written a wonderful chapter of solidarity, mutual assistance and win-win cooperation. The leapfrog development of China-Global relations has benefited from the deep mutual trust. China and the GCC countries have always supported each other’s sovereignty and independence, respected each other’s development paths, insisted that all countries, big or small, are equal, and firmly defended multilateralism. This is attributed to the high degree of complementarity. China has a vast consumer market and a complete industrial system. The GCC is rich in energy resources and has a diversified economy. This makes both parties natural partners. This is due to the empathy of the people of both countries. China and the GCC countries belong to the big family of oriental civilizations and share similar cultures and values. The two peoples enjoy a profound friendship. This is also due to the unity of the two parties in the face of adversity. In the face of regional and international uncertainties, as well as challenges such as the financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and major natural disasters, the two sides have helped each other to tide over the difficulties together.

President Xi Jinping emphasized that China highly appreciates the GCC countries’ unity and self-improvement, making the GCC the most dynamic regional organization in the Middle East Gulf region. Standing at the crossroads of history, the two sides should carry forward the tradition of friendship between China and the GCC, and take the opportunity of establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries to enrich the strategic connotation of the bilateral relationship.

China and the GCC should be more united partners, further consolidate political mutual trust, and firmly support each other’s core interests. The two sides should jointly adhere to the principle of non-interference in internal affairs, practice true multilateralism, and safeguard the common interests of all developing countries.

China and the GCC should be partners for common development, better connect development strategies, give full play to their respective advantages, and cultivate development momentum. China looks forward to working with all parties to promote the implementation of global development initiatives, implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and promote regional development and prosperity.

China and the GCC should be partners for common security. China will continue to firmly support the GCC countries in maintaining their own security, support countries in the region in resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, and build a collective security framework for the Gulf. China welcomes GCC countries to participate in global security initiatives and jointly maintain regional peace and stability.

China and the GCC should be partners for cultural prosperity, strengthen people-to-people exchanges, expand cultural exchanges, learn from each other’s outstanding cultural achievements, carry forward the rich value of oriental civilization, and contribute to common development and progress. human civilization.

President Xi stressed that in the next three to five years, China will cooperate with GCC countries in the following priority areas.

The first is to build a new pattern of all-round energy cooperation. China will continue to import more crude oil and liquefied natural gas from GCC countries, strengthen cooperation with GCC countries in oil and gas development and clean and low-carbon technologies, and carry out RMB settlement in oil and gas trade. Establish the China-GCC Forum on the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Technology and the China-GCC Nuclear Security Demonstration Center. China will provide training opportunities for the GCC countries to use nuclear energy and technology for peaceful purposes.

Second, new progress has been made in financial investment cooperation. China and the GCC countries can cooperate in financial supervision, set up a joint investment committee, and support the sovereign wealth funds of the two sides to carry out various forms of cooperation. The two sides can discuss the establishment of a China-GCC industry and investment cooperation forum, strengthen digital economy and green development investment cooperation, establish a working mechanism for investment and economic cooperation, and deepen digital currency cooperation.

The third is to expand new fields of innovation and technology cooperation. China is willing to establish big data and cloud computing centers with GCC countries, strengthen 5G and 6G technology cooperation, build innovation and entrepreneurship incubators, and implement 10 digital economy projects such as cross-border e-commerce and communication networks. Establish China-GCC Meteorological Technology Cooperation mechanism, the two sides can hold climate response seminars.

Fourth, seek new breakthroughs in aerospace cooperation. China is willing to cooperate with GCC countries in remote sensing and communication satellites, space utilization, aerospace infrastructure, and astronaut selection and training. China welcomes GCC astronauts to the space station to perform joint missions and space science experiments with Chinese colleagues. China welcomes GCC countries to participate in China’s space mission payload cooperation, and will consider establishing a China-GCC Joint Center for Lunar and Deep Space Exploration.

Fifth, cultivate new highlights in language and cultural cooperation. China will cooperate with 300 universities, primary and secondary schools in GCC countries in Chinese language education, build 300 smart Chinese classrooms with GCC countries, provide 3,000 places for Chinese Bridge summer camps/winter camps, set up Chinese learning and testing centers and online Chinese courses. The two sides can hold a China-Sea language and culture forum, build a bilingual library, and promote mutual learning in people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

President Xi stressed that China and the GCC countries shoulder the glorious mission of realizing national development and rejuvenation. China-Ghai relations are both old and young. The Chinese side will continue to support the GCC in uniting for self-improvement, achieving diversified economic development, and playing a greater role in regional and international affairs. China is willing to work with the GCC and take the summit as an opportunity to usher in a new era of better China-GCC relations.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman chaired the summit on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. He pointed out that the many risks and challenges facing the world today require unity and joint response from all parties. Under the wise leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has made great development achievements and has become an important progressive force leading global governance. The GCC speaks highly of the fruitful results of cooperation between the GCC and China in various fields, and highly appreciates China’s global development initiative and its important contribution to promoting the political settlement of regional issues. The countries of the GCC look forward to strengthening cooperation with China, and hope to identify key areas of future GCC cooperation at the summit and open a new chapter in the relationship between the two countries. The GCC is committed to strengthening experience exchanges and technical cooperation with China, promoting cooperation in infrastructure, health, energy and other fields to achieve more results, and better respond to global challenges such as food and energy crises.

Other GCC leaders present at the meeting spoke highly of the relationship between the GCC and China and the first GCC-China Leaders’ Meeting. They agreed that the first GCC-China leaders’ meeting is a milestone event in the history of GCC-China relations. The GCC countries share similar ideas and views with China, and the relationship between the two countries fully reflects mutual understanding, mutual trust, and win-win cooperation. The GCC believes that China’s continued prosperity and development will create more opportunities for the world. Strengthening cooperation between the GCC and China will help promote the development of a more just and reasonable international order and contribute to regional peace and development. The GCC firmly adheres to the one-China principle, and is willing to work with China to implement the outcomes of the summit, further deepen cooperation in key areas of the GCC, and benefit the two peoples.

At the summit, a joint statement of the Republic of China and the Gulf Cooperation Council was issued, and the “2023-2027 Strategic Dialogue Action Plan of the Republic of China and the Cooperation Council of the Arab States” adopted the Gulf Cooperation and planned the cooperation between China and the GCC countries in various fields. Cooperation.

Ding Xuexiang, Wang Yi and He Lifeng were present at the Summit.