CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VI (1) Contemporary-Eurasia-VI-1-engl | Page 47

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VI (1)
century. The formation of mutual upstream-downstream interdependence
between the sides became obvious as the GCC states initiated to invest
in China’s oil refining and petrochemical industries. At the same time
China invests in oil production and exploration in the Gulf States 18 .
Former GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman Al-Attiyah while
referring to China-GCC relations expressed his wish that the two sides
need to do their best to quicken negotiation processes and also work
hard for completion of establishment of China-GCC free trade area.
He encouraged the sides to create bilateral strategic dialogue
mechanisms as soon as possible in order to comprehensively reinforce
the spirit of China-GCC relations 19 .
People’s Liberation Army strategist Luo Yuan well-known for his
hawkish views stated the following: “China’s Middle Eastern strategy
is to keep the balance of various forces while that of the United States
is to control oil, as well as regional situation through military might
and democratization… China tries to stabilize situation in the Gulf and
it pursues self-balance inside the region” 20 .
The level of China’s commitments and diverse mechanisms it has
been developing in accordance with China-GCC cooperation serve as
clear illustration of its proactive diplomatic and strategic efforts for
expanding bilateral relations 21 .
In order to strengthen relationships between China and the Arab
states in 2004 China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) was
established. This forum generally focuses on economic cooperation
between the sides regarding trade, infrastructure, investment and
18
Ghafouri M., China's Policy in the Persian Gulf, Middle East Policy 16 (2),
2009, p. 89.
19
Harding H., China’s American Dilemma, the Annals of the American Academy
of Political and Social Science 519 (1), 1992, p. 16, China’s Foreign Relations, 8
September 2016,
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0002716292519001002?journalCod
e=anna.
20
Luo Yuan, China’s Strategic Interests in the Gulf and Trilateral Relations
among China, the US and Arab Countries, Washington D.C and Dubai: The
Nixon Center and the Gulf Research Center, 2010, p. 29.
21
Murphy D., Testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review
Commission in Its hearing on China and the Middle East, 2013, USCC, 6 June,
2013, p. 4-7, https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/MURPHY_testimony.pdf
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