Editing Foreign relations of China (section)

====Arab World====
{{See also|Sino-Arab relations}}
{{Flagicon|Arab League}}{{Flagicon|China}}

[[File:China’s Critical Sea Lines of Communication.png|thumb|300px|right|China's Critical [[Sea lines of communication]]. In 2004, over 80 percent of Chinese [[crude oil]] imports transited the [[Strait of Malacca]], with less than 2 percent transiting the [[Lombok Strait]].]]

'''Sino-Arab relations''' have extended historically back to the first [[Rashidun Caliphate|Caliphate]], with important trade routes, and good diplomatic relations. Following the age of [[Imperialism]], the Sino-Arab relations were halted for several centuries, until both gained independence in the 19th and 20th century. Modern relations are evolving into a new era, with the [[China–Arab States Cooperation Forum|China-Arab States Cooperation Forum]] (CASCF) as the major multi-lateral cooperation mechanism between China and the Arab League states.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Dawn C.|title=China's Rise in the Global South: The Middle East, Africa, and Beijing's Alternative World Order|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|year=2022|isbn=978-1-5036-3060-4|location=Stanford, California|page=56}}</ref>

On 10 March 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced that they had agreed to normalize their relations in a deal brokered by China.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gans|first=Jared|date=11 March 2023|title=Five things to know about the Iran-Saudi deal brokered by China|url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/3895412-five-things-to-know-about-the-iran-saudi-deal-brokered-by-china/|access-date=14 March 2023|website=The Hill}}</ref>

=====Medieval Era=====
During the [[Tang dynasty]], when relations with Arabs were first established, the Chinese called Arabs "Dàshí" ({{Lang|zh|大食}}).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/dashi.html|title=Chinese History – Dashi 大食|author=Ulrich Theobald|access-date=19 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029020558/http://chinaknowledge.de/History/Altera/dashi.html|archive-date=29 October 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://asiecentrale.revues.org/index623.html|title=A century of Chinese research on Islamic Central Asian history in retrospect|journal=Cahiers d'Asie Centrale|issue=9|pages=115–129|author=Yingsheng, Liu|access-date=19 February 2015|date=July 2001|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727215118/http://asiecentrale.revues.org/index623.html|archive-date=27 July 2011}}</ref> In modern Chinese, Dashi means Great Food. The modern term for Arab is "Ālābó" ({{Lang|zh|阿拉伯}}).<ref>{{Cite web|title=English translation of 阿拉伯半岛 ( Alabo Bandao / Ālābó Bàndăo ) – Arabia in Chinese|url=https://dictionary.hantrainerpro.com/chinese-english/translation-alabobandao_arabia.htm|access-date=24 March 2023|website=dictionary.hantrainerpro.com}}</ref>

The Arab Islamic [[Caliph]] [[Uthman Ibn Affan]] (r. 644–656) sent an embassy to the Tang court at Chang'an.<ref>{{citation|last=Twitchett|first=Denis|editor-last=van de Ven|editor-first=Hans|chapter=Tibet in Tang's Grand Strategy|title=Warfare in Chinese History|year=2000|publisher=Koninklijke Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-11774-7|pages=106–179 [125]}}</ref>

Although the Tang Dynasty and the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] had [[Battle of Talas|fought at Talas]], on 11 June 758, an [[Abbasid]] embassy arrived at Chang'an simultaneously with the Uyghurs in order to pay tribute.<ref>{{citation|last=Schafer|first=Edward H.|edition=1st paperback|title=The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of T'ang Exotics|orig-date=1963|year=1985|publisher=University of California Press|page=26|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles|isbn=978-0-520-05462-2}}</ref>

The Caliphate was called "Dàshíguó" ({{Lang|zh|大食國}}).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog|quote=realm caliphs call ta shi kuo.|title=On the knowledge possessed by the ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian colonies: and other western countries, mentioned in Chinese books|author=E. Bretschneider|year=1871|publisher=Trübner & co.|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog/page/n12 6]|access-date=28 June 2010}}(Original from Harvard University)</ref>

An Arab envoy presented horses and a girdle to the Chinese in 713, but he refused to pay homage to the Emperor, said, he said "In my country we only bow to God never to a Prince". The first thing the court was going to do was to murder the envoy, however, a minister intervened, saying "a difference in the court etiquette of foreign countries ought not to be considered a crime." A second Arab envoy performed the required rituals and paid homage to the Emperor in 726 A.D. He was gifted with a "purple robe and a girdle".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog|quote=713 envoy appeared from ta shi.|title=On the knowledge possessed by the ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian colonies: and other western countries, mentioned in Chinese books|author=E. Bretschneider|year=1871|publisher=Trübner & co.|location=LONDON|page=[https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog/page/n14 8]|access-date=28 June 2010}}(Original from Harvard University)</ref>

There was a controversy between the Arab ambassadors and [[Uyghur Khaganate]] ambassadors over who should go first into the Chinese court, they were then guided by the Master of Ceremonies into two different entrances. Three Da shi ambassadors arrived at the Tang court in 198 A.D. A war which was raging between the Arabs and Tibetans from 785 to 804 benefited the Chinese.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog|quote=hui ho ambassadors 798 three ta shi ambassadors came.|title=On the knowledge possessed by the ancient Chinese of the Arabs and Arabian colonies: and other western countries, mentioned in Chinese books|author=E. Bretschneider|year=1871|publisher=Trübner & co.|location=LONDON|page=[https://archive.org/details/onknowledgeposs00bretgoog/page/n16 10]|access-date=28 June 2010}}(Original from Harvard University)</ref>

According to Professor Samy S. Swayd, [[Fatimid]] missionaries made their [[Dawah]] in China during the reign of [[Al-Aziz Billah]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Historical dictionary of the Druzes|author=Samy S. Swayd|edition=illustrated|volume=3 of Historical dictionaries of people and cultures|year=2006|isbn=978-0-8108-5332-4|access-date=4 April 2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TlCHg5EblxEC&q=druze+china&pg=PR41|publisher=Scarecrow Press|quote=The fifth caliph, al-'Aziz bi-Allah (r.975-996). . . In his time, the Fatimi "Call" or "Mission" (Da'wa) reached as far east as India and northern China.|page=xli}}</ref>

=====Trade=====
In Islamic times Muslims from Arabia traded with China.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/islamicdeskrefer00donz_0|url-access=registration|access-date=26 December 2011|title=Islamic desk reference|year=1994|author=E. J. van Donzel|editor=E. J. van Donzel|edition=illustrated|publisher=BRILL|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamicdeskrefer00donz_0/page/67 67]|isbn=978-90-04-09738-4|quote=China (A. al-Sin):. . .After the coming of Islam, the existing trade was continued by the peoples of the South Arabian coast and the Persian Gulf, but the merchants remained on the coast.}}</ref> For instance, China imported frankincense from southern Arabia via [[Srivijaya]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJibpHfnw94C&pg=PA130|access-date=26 December 2011|title=Aspects of the Maritime Silk Road: From the Persian Gulf to the East China Sea|year=2010|volume=10 of East Asian Economic and Socio-cultural Studies – East Asian Maritime History|author=Ralph Kauz|editor=Ralph Kauz|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|page=130|isbn=978-3-447-06103-2}}</ref>

=====20th century=====
[[Republic of China (1912–1949)|China]] under the [[Kuomintang]] had established relations with Egypt and [[Saudi Arabia]] in the 1930s. The Chinese government sponsored students like [[Wang Jingzhai]] and [[Muhammad Ma Jian]] to go the [[Al-Azhar University]] to study. Pilgrims also made the [[Hajj]] to [[Mecca]] from China.<ref name="Masumi">{{cite web|url=http://science-islam.net/article.php3?id_article=676&lang=fr|title=The completion of the idea of dual loyalty towards China and Islam|last=Masumi|first=Matsumoto|access-date=28 June 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724054724/http://science-islam.net/article.php3?id_article=676&lang=fr|archive-date=24 July 2011|url-status=usurped}}</ref>
Chinese Muslims were sent to Saudi Arabia and Egypt to denounce the Japanese during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]].<ref name="Masumi" /> The Fuad Muslim Library in China was named after King [[Fuad I of Egypt]] by the [[Hui people|Chinese Muslim]] Ma Songting.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJzB6wrz6Q4C&q=ma+fuxiang+military+academy&pg=PA251|title=Intellectuals in the modern Islamic world: transmission, transformation, communication|author1=Stéphane A. Dudoignon|author2=Hisao Komatsu|author3=Yasushi Kosugi|year=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=251|isbn=978-0-415-36835-3|access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref> In 1939 [[Isa Yusuf Alptekin]] and Ma Fuliang were sent by the Kuomintang to the Middle eastern countries such as Egypt, [[Turkey]], and [[Syria]] to gain support during the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rsLQdBUgyMUC|title=Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers: A Journey to the West|author1-link=Lin Hsiao-ting|author=Hsiao-ting Lin|year=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-58264-3|page=90}}</ref>

[[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] cut off the diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan and established the new tie with the People's Republic of China in 1956. By the 1990s all Arab states had finished to recognize the People's Republic of China as the legitimate state of China.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

The relations between China and the Arab League as an organization, officially started in 1956, yet it was in 1993, when the Arab League opened its first Office in China, when former Secretary general Essmat Abdel Megeed went to an official Visit to Beijing, in 1996, the Chinese leader Jiang Zemin visited the Arab League headquarters during his visit in Cairo, to become the first Chinese leader to have an official visit for the Arab League.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cascf.org/ara/gyam/zgyamgx/|title=中华人民共和国中阿合作论坛|publisher=Cascf.org|access-date=29 May 2020|archive-date=9 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109035743/http://www.cascf.org/ara/gyam/zgyamgx/|url-status=dead}}</ref> China has continued to pay greater attention to the Middle East since the 2000s.<ref name="Atature-2023">{{Cite book|last=Atatüre|first=Süha|title=China and Eurasian Powers in a Multipolar World Order 2.0: Security, Diplomacy, Economy and Cyberspace|date=2023|publisher=[[Routledge]]|others=Mher Sahakyan|isbn=978-1-003-35258-7|location=New York|chapter=The US and China as Main Powers in Multipolar World Order 2.0|oclc=1353290533}}</ref>{{Rp|page=40}} With China, Middle Eastern countries benefit from a potential investment source and long-term buyer of oil and gas without the political complications that come with dealing with the United States.<ref name="Atature-2023" />{{Rp|page=40}}

===== China-Arab States Cooperation Forum =====
The core political norms that China advocates within CASCF are its [[Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence]]: mutual respect for territory and sovereignty, mutual nonaggression, mutual noninterference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence.<ref name="Murphy-2022">{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Dawn C.|title=China's rise in the Global South: the Middle East, Africa, and Beijing's alternative world order|publisher=Stanford University Press|date=2022|isbn=978-1-5036-3060-4|location=Stanford, California|page=59|oclc=1249712936}}</ref> These principles are a conservative interpretation of the [[Westphalian sovereignty|Westphalian norms]] of state sovereignty.<ref name="Murphy-2022" />

The most prominent political issue advocated through CASCF is a Middle East peace process aimed at resolving the [[Arab–Israeli conflict|Arab-Israeli conflict]] (including the territorial disputes that Lebanon and Syria each have with Israel).<ref name="Murphy-2022a">{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Dawn C.|title=China's rise in the Global South: the Middle East, Africa, and Beijing's alternative world order|publisher=Stanford University Press|date=2022|isbn=978-1-5036-3060-4|location=Stanford, California|page=61|oclc=1249712936}}</ref> Other issues which have emerged following the [[Arab Spring]] include the [[Syrian civil war]], and issues in Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia.<ref name="Murphy-2022a" /> In recent years, CASCF documents have noted Arab states' support for China's approach in Hong Kong.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murphy|first=Dawn C.|title=China's rise in the Global South: the Middle East, Africa, and Beijing's alternative world order|date=2022|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|isbn=978-1-5036-3060-4|location=Stanford, California|page=270|oclc=1249712936}}</ref>

In the opening ceremony of the Forum in 2004, Chinese foreign minister [[Li Zhaoxing]] said that the [[Arab world]] is an important force in the international arena, and that China and Arab countries enjoy a time-honored friendship, remarking "Similar histories, common objectives and wide-ranging shared interests have enabled the two sides to strengthen cooperation," he said. "No matter how the international situation changes, China has always been the sincere friend of the Arab world."<ref>{{Cite web|title=1st Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum Ministerial Meeting Held|url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/2004/Sep/107188.htm|access-date=8 December 2021|website=china.org.cn}}</ref>

The Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum was formally established during China's paramount leader Hu Jintao's visit to the League's headquarters in January 2004. Hu noted at the time that the formation of the forum was a continuation of the traditional friendship between China and the Arab world and an important move to promote bilateral ties under new circumstances.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

Li stated that "the establishment of the forum would be conducive to expanding mutually beneficial cooperation in a variety of areas."{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

"The PRC has submitted four proposals. First, maintaining mutual respect, equitable treatment and sincere cooperation on the political front. Second, promoting economic and trade ties through cooperation in investment, trade, contracted projects, labor service, energy, transportation, telecommunications, agriculture, environmental protection and information. Third, expanding cultural exchanges. Finally, conducting personnel training," he said. 
Arab foreign ministers attending the meeting agreed that the formal inauguration of the forum was a significant event in the history of Arab ties with China. They submitted a variety of proposals on promoting Sino-Arab friendship and cooperation. 
At the conclusion of the meeting, Li and Arab League Secretary General [[Amr Moussa]] signed a declaration and an action plan for the forum. 
Li arrived in [[Cairo]] on Sunday evening for a three-day visit to Egypt, the last leg of a [[Middle East]] tour that has taken him to Saudi Arabia, [[Yemen]] and [[Oman]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

=====The Joint Communiqué=====
One of the major Joint Projects involves the Environment, the AL and PRC signed the Executive Program of the Joint Communiqué between the Environmental Cooperation for 2008–2009{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

The League of Arab States and the Government of People's Republic of China signed the Joint Communiqué on Environmental Cooperation (referred to as the Joint Communiqué) on 1 June 2006. The Joint Communiqué is an important instrument that aims to deepen the regional environmental partnership between the two parties. Since the signing of the Joint Communiqué, the [[Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China|Chinese Ministry of Commerce]] and the [[Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China|Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection]] have co-organized two environmental protection training courses in June 2006 and June 2007 respectively, in China.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bricspolicycenter.org/en/forum-de-cooperacao-china-paises-arabes/|title=China Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF)}}</ref>

This treaty was signed by Arab Ambassador [[Ahmed Benhelli]] Under secretary general Am Moussa's Approval, and [[Xu Qinghua]] Director General Department for International Cooperation, Ministry of Environmental Protection.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.arableagueonline.org/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720072016/http://www.arableagueonline.org/las/arabic/details_ar.jsp?art_id=5057&level_id=725|title=Arab League – Sportwetten – Beste Singlebörsen im Vergleich|archive-date=20 July 2011|website=Arab League – Sportwetten – Beste Singlebörsen im Vergleich}}</ref>