Silk Road
In the Arab and World Conferences series, the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACSRP) organized an academic conference on “Arabs and China: The Future of the Relationship with an Emerging Power” in Doha, on 21 and 22 May 2016.
The choice of the subject of Arab-Chinese relations this year to study the relationship of the Arabs with this Asian giant, which is growing sense of its presence and impact in light of major regional and international transformations. While economic and trade aspects appear to be the dominant feature of Arab-Chinese relations so far, other new features have been emerging in recent years as China’s dependence on oil and gas sources increases its continued economic growth, coupled with a US re-positioning towards China And the Arab region.
In order to keep the Sino-Arab relations a mere memory in the “Silk Road”, more than forty researchers have specialized in providing more than 30 research papers to study the foundations, prospects and future of this relationship.
Since the first session devoted to trying to understand the Chinese strategy in the Arab world, the academic research papers presented by Arab and other Chinese scholars have raised important debates in the conference hall on many problematic issues in this relationship, starting with the actual position of the Arab world in the Chinese strategy, China has been absent from the region, and when it has a greater interest and a clearer intervention, its interventions have aroused condemnation among many segments of Arab public opinion, especially with regard to China’s position on the Arab revolutions and the crisis in Syria in particular.
The participants also raised the question of the imbalance in relations between Arabs and China from the Arab side. The Arabs do not realize what they want from China.