China-Middle East aim to lift trade to new heights by 2030 amid strained ties with Western partners
- China’s Belt and Road Initiative has helped enhance exchanges with the Arab world in recent years, and Beijing’s foray into the Middle East is paying dividends
- Energy, travel and industrial supply chains are supporting trade growth between China and countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
Officials from China and the Arab world said on Thursday that they expect a steady – and possibly dramatic – increase in trade over the coming years, as the Middle East develops and Beijing gets more involved there amid tense relations with its Western trading partners.
The value of overall trade between China and Arab states reached US$431.4 billion last year, up from US$222.4 billion a decade ago, according to Xinhua.
China’s trade with just the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – home of the booming commercial hubs of Dubai and Abu Dhabi – should exceed US$200 billion by 2030, said Zhang Liming, China’s special ambassador to the Persian Gulf country. That figure was just US$75.6 billion in 2021.
Energy, travel and industrial supply chains are supporting growth in trade, Zhang explained.
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Trade growth would reflect China’s diplomatic forays into the Middle East at a time when the US has edgy relations with both Beijing and some Arab states, said Naubahar Sharif, head of the Division of Public Policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.