More Than Energy

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s trip to the Gulf region enhances all-round cooperation with the Arab world By Ding Ying

More Than Energy

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s trip to the Gulf region enhances all-round cooperation with the Arab world By Ding Ying

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates(UAE) and Qatar, and participated in the Fifth World Future Energy Summit (WFES)from January 14 to 19. The Chinese premier stated China’s stance on world energy supply at the summit and called for strengthening comprehensive cooperation with the three nations,including energy cooperation.

China’s energy stance

Wen clari fi ed China’s stance on energy security and sustainable energy in his speech at the WFES on January 16 in Abu Dhabi. China advocates energy security for all—producers,consumers and dealers, said Wang Haiyun,a researcher on energy security studies at the China Foundation for International Studies.All these stakeholders should enhance coordination in the face of possible energy security challenges, he added.

China urges the world to work together to secure a safer and more stable and sustainable supply in the global energy market, the Chinese premier said.

The WFES, a global platform launched in 2008 for sustainable future energy solutions,gathered industrial leaders, investors, scientists, policymakers and researchers to discuss challenges of rising energy demand and actions to achieve a cleaner and more sustainable future for the world.

Wang said China should work together with other emerging economies and developing nations to reach a consensus on establishing a global energy market management mechanism. Such a mechanism would bene fi t most countries, and would be widely supported, he said.

FAMILY VISIT: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao talks with family members of Abdul Rahman Al-Jeraisy,President of the Saudi Arabia-China Friendship Association, as he visits Al-Jeraisy's manor on the outskirt of Riyadh on January 15

Wang pointed out that one important aspect of China’s energy policy is to ban international energy speculation, which results in sharp fluctuations in the international energy market. He stressed that financial speculation is causing major damage to the global energy market. For example, about 30 percent of crude oil price growth in 2011 was caused by fi nancial speculation.

Wang echoed Wen’s calls to maintain peace and stability in energy-producing countries. Wang said all countries should make efforts to that end, because world energy producers’ peace and stability concern the energy security of the whole world.

“We cannot ignore West Asia and North Africa’s special status and functions. And we must stop spreading neo-interventionism in this region,” Wang said. The region contains 50 percent of the world’s oil reserves and 40 percent of its natural gas reserves.

“Any extreme acts across the Strait of Hormuz, under whatever circumstances they are taken, are against the common interests and aspirations of the people across the world,” Wen said at a press conference during his of fi cial visit to Qatar.

Currently, the Strait of Hormuz is the most important shipping lane for oil producers in the Middle East, including the UAE,Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Iran has said it might block the strait in response to possible security threats from the United States.

Sino-Arab relations

While deepening China’s relationship with the three Gulf nations, Wen’s visit helped improve China’s relations with the whole Islamic world, said Qu Xing, President of the China Institute of International Studies.

“The significance of this visit is far beyond the energy aspect,” Qu stressed.

China established a strategic partnership with the UAE. Cooperative agreements worth tens of billions of dollars in energy,trade, investment and cultural cooperation were signed during Wen’s visit. As Wen pointed out, trade is an ancient link between China and Arab nations, which is still very active today. In recent decades, the trade volume between China and Arab nations has seen an average annual increase of 30 percent, making the Arab world one of China’s leading trade partners.

Wen put forward a three-point proposal on deepening Sino-Arab relations under current complex international circumstances in a speech at the Fourth China-Arab Business Conference and Investment Seminar in Sharjah, the UAE.

These suggestions include strengthening political mutual trust, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation for common development, expanding cultural exchanges and carrying forward the traditional friendship.

Wen said China respects the paths that governments and peoples in West Asia and North Africa have chosen to develop their own economies by making use of their abundant natural resources.

Talking about reports in the Western media claiming the Chinese premier’s trip was a trip for energy, Qu said China started its friendly cooperation with Arab nations in the 1950s. “At that time, China didn’t import even a drop of oil,” he said. “Positioning Sino-Arab cooperation as just energy cooperation is a bias. The Western media’s view re fl ects their mindset of treating Arab nations merely as oil providers.”

Energy is only part of China’s diplomatic policy with nations in the Gulf area, said Li Weijian, a research fellow on West Asian and African studies with the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. He added that energy cooperation between China and Arab nations is based on their mutual needs.

Middle East nations are major oil producers, and China is the world’s second biggest oil consumer. In the aftermath of the global fi nancial crisis, it is important for oil producers in the Middle East to fi nd a market with a growing economy. In this sense, China is an ideal buyer for them. To China, it is rational to find more suppliers to secure its growing energy demand, Li said.

Energy, coupled with cooperation in economic and political fields, has made China and Arab countries good partners, Li said.

Yu Guoqing, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said enhancing political understanding and communication is an important task of Wen’s visit to the three Gulf countries. “Middle East nations have recognized China’s rising in fl uence in world affairs. Also, the sensitive situation in the region has made the three nations’ stance especially important,” Yu said,referring to the tense regional situation caused by turbulence in Syria and clashes between Tehran and Washington.

Yu stressed that diversifying oil supplies doesn’t mean China will keep its distance from Iran. Cooperation between China and Iran is always based on long-term strategic considerations, which will not be influenced by regional tensions, he said.

“I am not worried about the normal trade between China and Iran at all,” Wen told reporters in Qatar.