China wants to work with Arab nations to resolve hot spot issues in ways conducive to upholding fairness, justice and achieving long-term peace and stability, President Xi Jinping said in a speech on Thursday that also highlighted the Gaza crisis.

China is seeking to strengthen its relations with Arab states as a model for maintaining world peace and stability, Xi was quoted as saying by state media at the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Beijing.

In remarks about the war in Gaza, the Chinese leader said war cannot continue indefinitely, justice cannot be permanently absent and a "two-state solution" should be firmly upheld.

"In the face of a turbulent world, mutual respect is the way to live in harmony, and fairness and justice are the foundation of lasting security," Xi was quoted as saying by Xinhua news.

He was addressing the heads of state of Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia as well as foreign ministers from other Arab League nations.

Beijing has repeatedly called for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli crisis as well as an immediate ceasefire and Palestinian membership in the United Nations - positions which align closely with those of Arab nations.

China is increasingly flexing its diplomatic influence in the region, recently hosting the first talks on Chinese soil between the long-feuding Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in April. Last year, China also brokered a landmark reconciliation deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia after years of hostilities between the two arch-rivals.

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The Gaza crisis has threatened to push the region into a wider conflict, especially after recent tit-for-tat attacks by Israel and Iran.

China will continue to support alleviating the humanitarian crisis, and post-war rebuilding in Gaza, Xi said, pledging to provide another 500 million yuan ($69 million) in emergency humanitarian assistance.

China will also donate $3 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East to support its emergency assistance to the Gaza region, Xi said.

He said China would further cooperate with Arab states on several fronts including in the oil and gas fields, as well as larger-scale investments.

Xi committed support for Chinese energy companies and financial institutions to participate in renewable energy projects with a total installed capacity of more than 3 million kilowatts in Arab countries.

China is a massive buyer of Gulf energy and in 2023 bilateral trade between China and the Gulf stood at $286.9 billion, according to Chinese customs data, with Saudi Arabia accounting for nearly 40% of that trade.

Xi said China will host the second China-Arab States Summit in 2026.

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Xi Hosts Arab Leaders as China’s ‘Soft Power’ Expands in Mideast

President Xi Jinping will meet Arab leaders this week seeking deeper ties in a region where China does plenty of business — and increasingly diplomacy, too.

Xi will address the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Beijing on Thursday with heads of state from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Tunisia among the attendees. Talks will likely focus on fast-growing trade and investment, and regional security concerns amid the Israel-Hamas war.

As the Biden administration backs Israel in the conflict, China sees eye-to-eye with Arab nations, supporting an immediate cease-fire and recognition of a Palestinian state. That alignment is helping Beijing to extend its political sway in countries that until recently saw China chiefly as an economic partner — and win new allies in its global contest for influence with the US.

Xi’s visit to Saudi Arabia in late 2022 was hailed as a landmark by both countries. Last year, China followed up by brokering a surprise accord between the kingdom and Iran, the Islamic world’s biggest rivals. The détente has held up even amid the strains caused by the Gaza war, and there are signs it’s been followed by an acceleration of investment between China and the Middle East.

Beijing-based Lenovo Group Ltd. announced a deal Wednesday to sell $2 billion of convertible bonds to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and build research and production facilities in the kingdom. State oil firm Saudi Aramco is in talks to buy a $1.5 billion stake worth in a Chinese petrochemical firm, while carmaker China FAW Group is part of a push to make electric vehicles in Egypt. UBS analysts estimate that growing Chinese ties to the Middle East could add more than $400 billion to global energy-related trade by 2030.

Read More: Alibaba Seeks Middle East Partners as Beijing Deepens Gulf Ties

“China is developing soft power in the region,” said Shirley Yu, director of the China-Africa Initiative at the London School of Economics.

On top of commercial ties that fit the needs of both sides, she said, “the relationship extends to mutual political support at the existing US-led global institutions” — as well as new ones like BRICS, which China co-founded. Egypt and the UAE joined the group this year, and the Saudis are weighing a similar move.

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Outlining the meeting’s agenda at a briefing on Monday, Chinese vice foreign minister Deng Li cited a tenfold increase in trade with the Middle East over the past two decades.

For Beijing, the crucial import is oil. China gets more than one-third of its crude from members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, with the lion’s share coming from Saudi Arabia.

In overall trade, the UAE – even though its economy is only half the size of Saudi Arabia’s – has become a bigger partner for China.

The UAE plays a “key role in the Belt and Road Initiative” – Beijing’s global infrastructure drive – and has more than 6,600 Chinese brands registered in the country, Bloomberg Intelligence wrote last week. Through the end of 2022, which is as far as Beijing’s official data goes, the UAE had gotten about $12 billion in Chinese direct investment — four times as much as the Saudis.

Read More: Asia-Gulf Investment Flows Strengthen, But US-China Risk Looms

The picture may have changed last year. Saudi Arabia attracted $16.8 billion in greenfield investment from China in 2023, including in the auto and semiconductors industries, Arab News reported in April citing a study by the Dubai-based bank Emirates NBD.

While China’s economic and diplomatic weight in the region are rising, the US remains the key security partner for Gulf Arab states. It has major military bases in countries like Bahrain and Qatar, and supplies defense technology.

Washington is also pursuing a new defense accord with Saudi Arabia that’s supposed to be part of a wider regional realignment in which the Saudis would grant diplomatic recognition to Israel.

Read More: US and Saudis Near Defense Pact Meant to Reshape Middle East

That project could slow China’s commercial advance in the Middle East by raising hurdles in high-tech sectors with a security element. There are signs that the US is pressing Gulf firms to cut ties with Beijing in such fields.

The UAE’s top artificial intelligence firm, G42, recently agreed to divest from China and pivot to American technology, signing a $1.5 billion accord with Microsoft Corp. Saudi Arabia’s $100 billion AI fund signaled it’s willing to do the same.

“The Gulf is moving from strategic hedging in the tech sphere to strategic alignment with the US,” said Ahmed Aboudouh, an associate fellow at UK thinktank Chatham House who also heads China research at the UAE’s Emirates Policy Center.

Still, there’ll be plenty of other industries where Gulf countries will welcome a wider partnership with Beijing, Aboudouh said, including renewable energy, electric vehicles and infrastructure investments.

That fits a wider global pattern. The main Gulf economies exemplify a reluctance among many emerging-market nations — from East Asia to Latin America -– to get caught up in a Cold War between the US and China. They’d prefer to keep the doors open, and the money flowing, with both sides.

Saudi Arabia “will not put all its eggs in one basket,” said Hongda Fan, a professor of Middle East studies at Shanghai International Studies University. “Saudi Arabia’s defense cooperation with the US will not come at the expense of its relationship with China.”

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China hosts Arab leaders at summit focused on trade and the Israel-Hamas war

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for an international peace conference focused on the Israel-Hamas war and promised more humanitarian aid as he opened a summit with leaders of Arab states Thursday in Beijing.

“As war is raging causing tremendous suffering, justice can’t be absent and the two-state solution can’t be shaken,” Xi said in a speech opening the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum.

He called on Arab states to deepen cooperation in areas such as trade, clean energy, space exploration and health care.

The summit attended by heads of state from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Tunisia among others was set to focus on China’s expanding trade ties and on security concerns related to the Israel-Hamas war.

Beijing and the Arab states back the Palestinians in the conflict, where Israel is facing growing international condemnation after the strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in which at least 45 were killed over the weekend. The overall Palestinian death toll in the war exceeds 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Beijing has long backed the Palestinians and denounced Israel over its settlements in the occupied territories. It has not criticized the initial Hamas attack on Oct. 7 — which killed about 1,200 people — while the United States and others have called it an act of terrorism. However, China does have growing economic ties with Israel.

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“China’s priorities in the region are primarily economic,” said Maria Papageorgiou, a lecturer in politics and international relations at University of Exeter. “It wants to continue the momentum established in recent years with Gulf states and expand its investments, particularly in trade, technology (5G networks), and other cyber initiatives.”

Additionally, China wants to present itself as an alternative to the West and a more credible partner to the region, one that doesn't interfere in the nations' domestic affairs nor exert pressure, Papageorgiou said.

Present at the forum is Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who met Xi on Wednesday. The two leaders signed a series of cooperation agreements in areas such as infrastructure, technology and food imports meant to further their countries’ ties.

China has invested billions of dollars in Egyptian state projects, including a Suez Canal economic zone and a new administrative capital east of Cairo. Investments between Egypt and China amounted to around $14 billion in 2023, compared to $16.6 billion in 2022, according to Egypt’s statistics agency.

Also at the forum are Tunisia’s President Kais Saied, Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Bahrain King Hamad.

The China-Arab States Cooperation Forum was established in 2004 as a formal dialogue mechanism between China and Arab states.

China is Tunisia’s fourth-largest trading partner after Germany, Italy and France. Beijing has financed hospitals and sports complexes in Tunisia, and its companies have been contracted to build strategic infrastructure such as bridges and deep-water Mediterranean ports.

The UAE also has expansive, growing economic ties with China and has faced U.S. criticism for an alleged Chinese military facility being built in Abu Dhabi.

Besides China’s expansive trade ties in the Middle East, it has increasingly sought to play a diplomatic role in the region. Last year, Beijing helped broker an agreement that saw Saudi Arabia and Iran reestablish ties after seven years of tension in a role previously reserved for longtime global heavyweights like the U.S. and Russia.

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