was ich an andere stelle, vor laängerer zeit bereits einmal in erwartung schrieb:
Syria joins BRI amid extensive China-Mideast exchanges
China wins more trust from Mideast due to equal, sincere strategy
Syria on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on China's
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as the country is seeking post-war
reconstruction, showing its high political trust in China, experts
noted. The move came two days before the scheduled visit of the Iranian
foreign minister to China - as part of the intensive visits to China of
Mideast senior officials this week.
The ceremony of Syria
joining the BRI took place at the Planning and International Cooperation
Commission in the capital Damascus and was attended by Fadi Khalil, the
head of the commission, and Feng Biao, China's ambassador to Syria,
during which both sides signed MOU on Syria joining the BRI, the Xinhua
News Agency reported.
Khalil said the admission of Syria into the
initiative revives the old role of Syria in the ancient Silk Road and
will help in boosting bilateral cooperation with China and multilateral
cooperation with other countries.
Feng added that the cooperation
between the two countries provides the greatest contribution to the
economic reconstruction and social development of Syria and it also
enhances the harmonization between the BRI and the eastward strategy
proposed by Syria.
The ambassador said the BRI is in line with
the desire of the world for broad economic participation, noting that
the initiative has become the biggest international cooperation platform
in the world.
Syria had been struggled in wars in the past
decade, so the major task for the Syrian government was to safeguard
national sovereignty. Now it has entered a stage of reconstruction, and
its decision to sign the MOU with China at this time shows its sincerity
and huge political trust in China, Yin Gang, a researcher at the
Institute of West-Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Yin noted
that the Chinese government always showed support to the Syrian
government during wars, which also lays a good political basis for the
two sides' cooperation under the BRI.
Syria's signing of the
MOU on BRI came amid the intensive visits of six other Middle East
countries' foreign ministers to China: foreign ministers from Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain along with the Secretary-General of the
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Nayef bin Falah al-Hajrah kicked off a
five-day visit to China since Monday and foreign ministers of Turkey and
Iran are also scheduled to visit China on Wednesday and Friday at the
invitation of State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Yin
said that Wang Yi is expected to reiterate China's support to Iran over
the nuclear issue when meeting with the Iranian foreign minister Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian.
The two sides would also talk about the
specific implementation of projects under the 25-year cooperation
agreement, said Zhou Rong, a senior researcher at the Chongyang
Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. "After
Iran takes a strategy of 'Look East,' China's investment to and trade
with the country exceeds the total of that from Japan, South Korea and
India. China never yields to pressure from the US," Zhou noted.
Post-war reconstruction
The
BRI, proposed by China in 2013, comprises the Silk Road Economic Belt
and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming to build a trade,
investment, and infrastructure network connecting Asia with other parts
of the world along the ancient Silk Road trade routes and beyond.
"More
and more countries joining the BRI amid the impact of the pandemic
indicates that development and exchanges are what the world wants to
see. For Arab countries, economic development is a precondition for them
to step out of chaos caused by wars, for which the BRI will be a good
opportunity," Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International
Affairs at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on
Thursday.
Syria, long crippled by Western sanctions, has been
struggling economically and is eager to rebuild amid an isolated
situation in the international community. Cooperation with China under
the BRI will revive Syria's economy and help it fight the pandemic, Zhou
said.
Damascus faces a serious power shortage in part due to
the lack of necessary infrastructure. Any infrastructure-focused help to
Syria will be a much-needed shot in the arm, said Zhou.
According
to the Ministry of Commerce, Chinese investment in Syria totaled $135.7
billion by 2019. The two sides' trade totaled $1.3 billion in 2019, a
year-on-year increase of 33 percent.
China has rich experiences
in providing post-war reconstruction support. It has actively
participated in Iraq's economic reconstruction, with bilateral friendly
and practical cooperation making steady progress in various fields. The
two countries have been supporting and helping each other since the
onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In December 2021, Chinese companies signed deals to build 1,000 schools in Iraq while 3.2 million school-aged children in the war-torn Mideast country were reported to have no access to education.
Failure of US strategy in Middle East
The priority for Mideast countries is to defeat the pandemic and revive their economies as soon as possible.
"China is not geographically near the Middle East, nor does it foster
political partners in the region. China only tries to seek equal
cooperation and mutual development with all Mideast countries," Yin Gang
said.
China is a more friendly and trustworthy country to all
Mideast countries compared to the US. China has no enemies in the
region, does not want to seek monopoly, does not attach any additional
conditions to cooperation with any country, and would not take sides on
regional issues, Zhou said. On the contrary, the US usually has its own
strategic desire behind its moves in the region, he added.
Chinese
President Xi Jinping had a phone conversation with Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad in November 2021, during which Xi called for joint
efforts to defend international equity and justice, and safeguard the
common interests of developing countries.
China, he added,
attaches great importance to the development of China-Syria relations
and is ready to work with Syria to achieve more results in bilateral
friendly cooperation, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Xi said China
firmly supports Syria in safeguarding its national sovereignty,
independence and territorial integrity, and will provide as much
assistance as its capacity allows for Syria to fight the COVID-19
pandemic, revitalize its economy and improve the people's well-being, so
as to continuously lift China-Syria cooperation to new levels.
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202201/1245939.shtml
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