Saudi-Chinese strategic ties reach new heights

On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, I would like to extend warm congratulations and sincere wishes to the Chinese community living and working in Saudi Arabia.
I would also like to pay my tribute to the leadership of the Kingdom and its friendly people for their care and contribution to Sino-Saudi relations.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the Chinese government and its people have been working strenuously to build their homeland.
Now, China’s GDP exceeds $9 trillion which ranks the second in the world.
China is the largest goods-trader with the highest foreign exchange reserves in the world.
We are also witnessing significant developments in the fields of industry, agriculture, education, science, health, tourism and etc.
With political stability, prosperous economy and progressing society, China becomes one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
During the first half of 2014, China’s economic growth rate remains high at 7.4 percent.
At the same time, China is still a developing country with its per capita GDP just exceeding $6,700.
The Chinese government is striving to maintain the steady growth of its economy.
At the meantime, it is also committed to transforming and upgrading its economic structure to achieve a sustainable development in the economic and social fields.
Under the new leadership, the Chinese government has set the “two goals of 100-year” for its future development.
The first goal is to double its GDP and per capita income of its urban and rural residents of 2010 by 2020, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. By then, a society of moderate prosperity benefiting over one billion people will have been established.
The second goal is to turn China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the middle of this century, when the People’s Republic of China celebrates its 100th anniversary.
China is moving toward a higher stage of development, and its development has been and will continue to bring benefit to the peoples all over the world.
Just a few days ago, the Saudi people celebrated their National Day.
As a Chinese diplomat who has been working and living in the Kingdom for nearly three years, I was honored to share the great joy with the Saudi people.
I’m especially happy to witness the prosperity and progress the Kingdom has achieved, and I wish the Saudi people further progress in various fields under the leadership of King Abdullah.
As the Chinese Ambassador to the Kingdom, I’m proud of the friendly relationship between China and the Kingdom ever since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1990.
Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, made a successful visit to China in March this year.
During the visit, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang respectively, exchanging in-depth views on ways to develop Chinese-Saudi strategic relations of friendship and on regional and international issues of common concern, reaching important consensus, and bringing the bilateral relations to a new height.
Saudi Arabia has been the largest trading partner of China in West Asian and African region for over 10 consecutive years.
In 2013, China imported more than 53 million tons of crude oil from the Kingdom, and the volume of trade exchange between the two countries has reached $72.2 billion.
China is also the second largest trading partner of Saudi Arabia.
There are 158 Chinese companies operating across the Kingdom in the fields of construction, telecommunications, infrastructure, petrochemicals and others.
There are more than 1,300 Saudi students in China and more than 600 Chinese students in the Kingdom now.
The two countries have also been maintaining good coordination and cooperation in the fields of national security and counter-terrorism.
Although the distance between the two countries is far, China and Saudi Arabia are enjoying strong economic complementarities, the political mutual-respect and cultural inclusiveness.
Both peoples share the same wish to pursue a more wonderful life, and both countries are at the key point to a higher stage of development.
At the 6th Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum held in Beijing in June, Chinese president Xi Jinping proposed that both sides join hands to build the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ and the ‘Maritime Silk Road of the 21st Century’, and work together to establish a “1+2+3” cooperation pattern.
‘1’ means one core, namely energy cooperation.
In this regard, both sides need to deepen the full chain of oil and gas industry cooperation, to safeguard energy transportation corridor, so as to construct a mutual beneficial, safe, reliable and long-term friendly strategic relationship between China and Arab countries in the aspect of energy cooperation.
‘2’ means two wings, namely infrastructure construction, and trade and investment facilitation.
Both sides need to strengthen the cooperation on major development projects as well as the iconic livelihood projects, and to establish the relevant institutional arrangements which could promote the bilateral trade and investment.
‘3’ means three high and new tech fields of nuclear energy, space satellite and new energy as new breakthroughs.
Both sides need to make efforts to upscale the practical cooperation between China and Arab countries.
This proposal creates new opportunities and broad prospects to the development of the relations between China and Arab countries, especially between China and GCC countries.
China is willing to work together with Saudi Arabia to further deepen bilateral strategic friendly relations, to promote common economic and social development of both sides, and to jointly build a bright future of China-Saudi relationship.
Eid Al-Adha will come this week. More than 20 million Chinese Muslims will celebrate the traditional festival with their Muslim brothers and sisters all over the world together.
It is my pleasure to take this chance to extend my warm congratulations and sincere greetings of Eid-Al-Adha to the leaders, government and people of the Kingdom, as well as all Muslims in the Kingdom.
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Li Chengwen
Chinese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia