What's China's stand on the current conflicts in the Middle-East, and what's its vision for China-Arab relations.
On Wednesday, China issued its first "Arab Policy Paper", outlining its official vision for where it sees China-Arab ties.
According to China's "1 plus 2 plus 3" formula, energy cooperation will be the "core" of the relationship. The construction of infrastructure and facilitating trade and investment will be the "wings" supporting that core while the Number 3 refers to "three breakthroughs", a wish list for future cooperation in nuclear energy, new and clean energy, and aerospace.
China has for long valued its relationship with the Arab world. As a strategic region for international trade and energy production, the stability of the Middle East is critical to the global economy, and of course to the interests of China.
However, the running conflicts and disputes are threatening the stability of the Arab world, and the threat of terrorism is affecting global sentiment.
"This are two things that China has never done and will never do. One is a military intervention, the other is supporting one side against the other," said Hua Liming, China's former ambassador to Iran.
"China is trying to keep good relationships with all countries in the Middle East, and making efforts to end conflicts and reach peace agreements"
On more general issues, China promises to complete negotiations on a free-trade-agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council, and proposes to work on issues relating to security and intelligence sharing.
