China Eyes Closer Environmental Cooperation with Arab States

China is seeking closer environmental cooperation with Arab States driven by the strategy of 'One Belt and One Road'.'Co-building and greenization of ’One Belt and One Road’ will provide new opportunities and contents for China-Arab states cooperation。

Online Silk Road Promotes Economic Cooperation Between China and the Arab States

According to the 13th Five-year National Informati-zation Plan issued by the State Council,it is impor-tant to establish an online silk road.The"online silk road"is a network-based information economic belt es-tablished by China and countries along the Belt and Road,so as to increase in-terconnectivity and information f low.The construction of the online silk road will narrow the information gap among different countries and regions,

China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in the Last Decade

In the decade after its establishment,the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum has completed its normalized,institutional construction and established more than ten kinds of communication mechanism,such as ministerial meetings,senior officials meeting,business conference and investment seminars,which cover a variety of fields in political,economic,cultural,and humanistic cooperation.It not only enriched the connotation of China-Arab cooperation,but created a new cooperation mode.Therefore,the Arab World and China have developed a relationship of mutual promotion,mutual complementation and sound development multilaterally and bilaterally,officially and privately.The development of the Forum benefited both sides insisting on mutual respect,mutually beneficial cooperation and common development concept.In the next decade,the Forum should deepen strategies,adhere to innovation,emphasize on effectiveness,and create a better tomorrow for the work of the Forum.

The China-Arab States Cooperation Forum:Achievements,Challenges and Prospects

The“China-Arab States Cooperation Forum”is an important cooperation mechanism between the Arab world and China.Though the forum has made remarkable achievements since its establishment,enormous challenges are still ahead.The largest challenge is that both sides have common aspirations for further achievements and integration,and for a closer relationship between China and the Arab World.The real strategic vision is not limited to trade and investment,but also includes security,national defense building,technology transfer and some other fields.To overcome these challenges,three problems must be taken care of.First,the two sides need to deepen their mutual understandings;second,both Chinese and Arabs must get rid of the deep cautiousness towards each other;and third,both parties need to develop a comprehensive outlook from an aspect of civilization.

China’s Emerging Role in the New Arab World

The Arab Spring has changed the political landscape in the Arab world.The spring which began as genuine grass-root movement designed to create more equitable social projects,was steered by Western powers and local Islamists in different directions with these powers heavily intervening to control and/or weaken Arab states.China has pursued a policy of non-intervention in the domestic affairs of Arab states,and letting the peoples decide their own future.China may have miscalculated when it allowed NATO to interfere in Libya.That intervention had catastrophic consequences for China and Libya.Consequently,China,in collaboration with Russia decided not to repeat the same experience in Syria especially since foreign intervention in this case will be even more catastrophic.China vetoed Security Council draft resolutions calling for regime change in Syria and insisted on letting the Syrians decide peacefully their future course of action.Further,China under the new leadership has suggested for the first time a four-point program to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict.The article argues that the Chinese-Russian approach to the Syrian crisis is bound to have long-term implications for the future of the Arab world.As the signs of the positive contributions of that approach are emerging,China should proceed to reinforce these contributions through a concerted approach to engage with the new regimes in the Arab world,strengthen the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum,correct the imbalances of Sino-Arab trade,especially with the countries of the Arab Spring,focus on investing in these countries in labor-intensive industries,putting the four-point proposal on the agenda of ArabIsraeli negotiations,and,most importantly,deal with the question of the Israeli nuclear capabilities and the potential of Israel going to war against Iran,a scenario which will represent a major setback to the Chinese achievements in the region.

Community-led initiatives for the rehabilitation and management of vernacular settlements in Oman:a phenomenon in the making

Once abandoned for more than three decades,vernacular settlements in Oman are now being progressively reinvested in to foster the country’s heritage tourism sector.The present research focuses on the emerging phenomenon of community-led initiatives for vernacular heritage rehabilitation and adaptive reuse in Oman.Through an examination of three case studies,its aim is to describe this process and its modes of action and discuss its efects on vernacular settlement transformations.A mixed research methodology was designed to include(A)analyses of relevant primary and secondary data,(B)documented onsite observations,(C)interviews with local community representatives and key players in the operations of rehabilitation,and(D)extractions and analyses of quantitative data from a hotel booking website.The research sheds light on unsuspected interrelations within and between the projects being implemented in these settlements and their operating modes.It reveals the focal role of a local community in a kind of‘bottom-up’management of its built heritage,coupled with a‘horizontal cooperation’between the three initiatives studied in this research.Moreover,it shows that a heavily centralised and top-down policy for the feld of heritage conservation and management is among the main obstacles that hinder such initiatives.Furthermore,community-led operations of vernacular heritage rehabilitation are being undertaken under insufcient regulations in terms of land use,building restoration and adaptive reuse.In this context,the paper discusses some of the serious threats and concerns faced by such initiatives and proposes actionable solutions to mitigate these hindrances.

Sino-Arab Economic and Trade Cooperation: Situations, Tasks, Issues and Strategies

Sino-Arab economic and trade cooperation,which started a long time ago,has achieved a great headway since 2004 when it entered the fast track.In 2010,the China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum was established,providing Sino-Arab economic and trade cooperation for further expansion with an effective new platform and mechanism.The main positive factors for their current economic and trade cooperation are:a good basis for cooperation,a strong economic complementarity,a good beginning for bilateral investment cooperation,the existence of common languages,and the accordance with common interests.The principles and ideas for developing future cooperation are:to play out in the role of the China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum,and to treat Sino-Arab bilateral cooperation with a large field of vision;to promote Sino-Arab economic and trade cooperation by enhancing bilateral relations;to pay attention to handling Sino-US relations well when strengthening Sino-Arab economic and trade cooperation;to continue to expand market openness and promote trade liberalization positively;to expand economic and trade cooperation further on the basis of energy cooperation.In order to maintain and protect the growing overseas interests of the Chinese government,a grand strategy of China's foreign should be established.