ARAM ABAJYAN
more promising in the coming future. The GCC states’ economic advantageous positions, development plans and significant global shifts will be presented, as all these developments are attractive to China. Furthermore, in new era those states have started to adopt‘ Look East’ strategy and their cooperation especially with rising China will enter new and more promising level in the field of international relations. We can notice that China-GCC economic relations are developing in multilevel perspectives, however, oil undoubtedly remains the most significant factor shaping their ties. This sphere will be analyzed properly. About two-thirds of those countries oil reserves are being channeled to Asia, which is more than the GCC oil exports to North America and Europe together. International media also pays considerable attention to China-GCC mutual interdependent policy. The article is going to prove that economic ties between China and the GCC are stable, strong and the prospects of cooperation will be more‘ fruitful’.
Development processes between China and GCC states
Before economic modernization reforms along with‘ opening up to outside world’ of 1978 China’ s foreign policy towards the‘ Third World’ countries was guided in accordance with its basic principles. These principles were defined by Beijing’ s worldview and national ideology. During the period of 1960-1963 Sino-Soviet confronting relations were followed by mutual competition through revolutionary movements in the‘ Third World’. Later the Soviet Union’ s invasion of the Middle East seemed to be the most significant factor that made China establish and develop its cooperative relations with the GCC states 1.
Another phenomenon is relatively deep investigation of strategically significant Gulf region in China by Chinese experts of Arab world. They examine the strategic configuration in the Gulf region within a framework consisting of five periods. The first period is from 1949 to 1958, when the domination of pro-Western monarchies
1
Cheng J., The Evolution of China’ s Foreign Policy in the Post-Mao Era: From Anti-Hegemony to Modernization Diplomacy, Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1989, pp. 190-194. 38