Beijing Releases 2024 GSI Implementation Progress Report - Full Middle East Section
China’s Foreign Ministry released the official state progress report for 2024 Global Security Initiative implementation globally. Below I am sharing the English translation of the Middle East section for ease of access.
Report on the Implementation Progress of the Global Security Initiative (2024)
“(7) Maintaining and Promoting Security in the Middle East
Since modern times, the Middle East has suffered from superpower rivalry and geopolitical contest and become a nexus of global hotspot issues. China has consistently supported the active efforts of Middle Eastern countries to enhance dialogue and improve relations, and supported regional countries in solving regional security issues through solidarity and collaboration. China is ready to contribute positively and constructively to the development of a new security framework in the Middle East.
China has always been an important constructive force in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East. In December 2022, the first China-Arab States Summit was held successfully. The “Riyadh Declaration of the First China-Arab States Summit,” released subsequent to the summit, underscored and lauded the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative put forth by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the efforts made by China for world peace and development through these initiatives. China affirmed its support for the Arab countries to solve security issues in the region through solidarity and cooperation, and its support for the Arab peoples to explore their own development paths with their independent will. The Arab side appreciated the efforts made by Chinese diplomacy to support Arab issues to find peaceful solutions to crises in the region, in a way that enhances peace and security at the regional and international levels.
In March 2023, with the support and facilitation of China, Saudi Arabia and Iran achieved a historic reconciliation in Beijing and decided to restore diplomatic relations. The widespread view is that the China-facilitated improvement of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran represents a victory for dialogue and peace. It set a fine example of regional countries resolving differences and disagreements through dialogue and consultation and achieving good-neighborly relations, and has become yet another success in implementing the GSI. The improving relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran set off a wave of reconciliation in the Middle East. Syria has been welcomed back into the Arab family. Egypt normalized its relations with Turkey, Qatar with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, and Iran with Sudan, among other developments.
China actively facilitates the political resolution of hotspot issues in the Middle East and the implementation of its five-point initiative on achieving security and stability in the Middle East, its four-point proposal for the political settlement of the Syrian issue, and its three-point vision for the implementation of the two-State solution for the question of Palestine, all in an effort to help lower the temperature and deescalate the situation in the Middle East. Following the intensification of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, President Xi Jinping attended and addressed the Extraordinary Joint Meeting of BRICS Leaders and Leaders of Invited BRICS Members on the Situation in the Middle East with Particular Reference to Gaza. He urged the parties to the conflict to end hostilities and achieve a ceasefire immediately, and called on the international community to act with practical measures to prevent the conflict from spilling over and endangering stability of the whole region. China maintains robust communication and coordination with Arab and Islamic countries, and pushed the United Nations Security Council under its presidency to adopt the first resolution on the issue since the conflict broke out, which called for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.
China actively promotes the development of the Middle East and facilitates peace through development. China underscores that regional countries need to explore and pursue a development path tailored to their unique national circumstances and see this as the ultimate pathway to stability. China actively supports the accelerated development of regional countries and welcomes them to get on board the express train of China’s development. China is working with regional countries to advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and actively implement the Global Development Initiative.
China has put forward a clear proposition for promoting the development of a new security architecture in the Middle East. At the Second Middle East Security Forum in September 2022, Wang Yi, then State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, underscored China’s readiness to leverage the implementation of the GSI and work with Middle Eastern countries and the international community to build a new security architecture in the Middle East. He set forth four proposals: firstly, embracing the new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security; secondly, affirming the leading role of Middle Eastern countries; thirdly, observing the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter; and fourthly, strengthening regional security dialogue. China staunchly supports Middle Eastern countries in establishing, in a spirit of independence and self-reliance, a regional security architecture that aligns with regional realities and accommodates the interests of all stakeholders, and in exploring a distinctively Middle Eastern path toward enduring stability and security.”