Xi’s UAE visit underway
High-tech, energy, future cooperation high on agenda
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday for his highly anticipated state visit, the first by a Chinese president in almost three decades.
Chinese experts expect talks will focus on advanced technologies, new-energy projects and investment during Xi’s trips, and they noted that China’s neutrality on Middle East issues will remain unchanged.
Ahead of his state visit to the Middle East country, Xi published a signed article titled “Working Hand in Hand for a Better Future” in Al Ittihad and The National, two mainstream newspapers in the UAE, on Wednesday.
In the article, Xi noted that China and the UAE are deepening cooperation in various sectors, including energy, industry and finance.
Xi wrote, “Our new and high technology cooperation is on the rise. The 700MW Concentrated Solar Power (CSP), a China-UAE joint project, is under construction in Dubai. It will be the world’s largest and most advanced solar
thermal power plant. The Hassyan Clean Coal Power Plant, the first Middle East project financed by the Silk Road Fund, will be the first clean coal plant in the region.”
At the Dubai Branch of Shanghai Electric Group Co, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the CSP project, Project Manager Zhao Hui told the Global Times on Thursday that the 44-square-kilometer project – the size of more than 6,000 soccer fields – is expected to be connected to the power grid during the Dubai Expo from 2020-2021.
In the Middle East’s high-end market, major energy projects often excluded Chinese EPC contractors, said Zhao. He says the solar thermal project is not only a breakthrough for this company in the regional market, but also bodes well for Chinese businesses hoping to get a foothold in markets along the route of the Chinaproposed Belt and Road initiative.
Hua Liming, a former Chinese ambassador to Iran and the UAE, told the Global Times on Thursday that “high-tech cooperation between China and the UAE is highly complementary and necessary.”
Hua said that “the UAE is an influential country in the region. It has close ties with the West, and the US is its top ally. Due to the nation’s wealth it usually can receive and test the most advanced technologies when Western countries make any breakthrough.”
China and the UAE have had close commercial exchanges in recent years. The UAE is China’s second largest trade partner and the largest export market for Chinese goods among Arab countries, while China has been the largest trade partner of the UAE for a number of years, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
In 2017, bilateral trade stood at $41 billion, a 1.06 percent increase from the previous year. By the end of 2015, China’s foreign direct investment in the UAE reached $4.6 billion. In 2016, the UAE invested over 2.1 billion dollars in China.
In April 2015, the UAE joined the China-initiated Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member.
The UAE and China signed a series of agreements, including a currency swap deal when Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi Emirate, visited Beijing in December 2015. The UAE was also included in the RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor scheme.
In 2017, Chinese visitors to the UAE surged to over 1 million, and in January this year the UAE became the 11th country to have mutual visaexemptions with China for holders of ordinary passports, Chinese Ambassador to the UAE Ni Jian told Xinhua on Tuesday.
Neutral in regional affairs
Hua also noted that China’s deepening relationship with the UAE will not change its neutrality on Middle East affairs. Xi’s visit to the UAE is the first by a Chinese president in 29 years.
“The UAE is an ally of Saudi Arabia, and its relations with Iran and Qatar are very intense. It is also involved in military conflicts in Yemen and Syria. While China is improving cooperation with the UAE, it will not take sides in the struggles among Middle East countries,” Hua said.