Saudi Arabia’s ‘look-east’ policy pays off

March 17, 2017

Beijing, Mar 17: Chinese foreign affairs analysts say that a series of agreements signed by Saudi Arabia and China is a “win-win” situation for both countries.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman oversaw the signing of deals worth potentially $65 billion on the first day of a visit to Beijing on Thursday, as the world’s largest oil exporter looks to cement ties with China.

Dr. Zeng Ji, chair of the Department of International Affairs at Sun Yat-sen University, China, told Arab News the deals consist of 35 projects that include covering productive capacity, trade, space industry, new energy and education.

“So far, I have noticed that little is mentioned about oil deals,” Zeng said. “It suggests that Sino-Saudi economic cooperation becomes more pluralistic nowadays, compared with China’s traditional reliance on Saudi oil. For China, the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia ... is not only a provider of energy. The paramount need for China is to export its over-abundant productive capacity.”

Zeng added the Middle East would accelerate China’s ambitious initiative aimed at tighter economic links with countries extending to Europe and Africa through the Middle East.

He also said the “deals suggest a win-win situation in the eyes of both countries.”

Dr. Degang Sun of the Institute of Shanghai International Studies University said China and Saudi Arabia are a perfect match in potential trade and investments.

“The two sides’ economies are supplementary to each other,” Degang told Arab News.

“In recent years, China put forward the ‘One Belt and One Road Initiative’ and the Saudi government put forward Vision 2030 in 2016. The two sides’ development strategies are compatible with each other. China perceives Saudi Arabia as the pivotal state in implementing its ‘One Belt and One Road,’ and China’s investment in and trade with Saudi Arabia will enhance the diversification and industrialization of the Saudi economy in the next decade.”

He said Saudi Arabia “looking east” and China “looking west” will enhance their strategic partnership.

Few other details were given about the 14 memoranda of understanding (MoU) that were signed on Thursday.

Besides the MoUs agreed between the two governments, Saudi and Chinese companies signed 21 deals, ranging from exploring investments in oil and petrochemical plants to e-commerce and co-operating in renewable energy markets.

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Israel orders 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah ahead of ground invasion

News Network

May 6,2024

The Israeli regime is forcibly evacuating Palestinians from the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the prospect of its widely-discouraged ground invasion.

“The estimate is around 100,000 people,” an Israeli military spokesman told journalists on Monday when asked how many people were being evacuated.

International organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly warned the regime against invading the city, citing its hosting around 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground assault on Rafah would “put the final nail in the coffin” for humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said, “Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death,” with an official saying “It could be a slaughter of civilians.”

Multiple aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have likewise warned against a Rafah offensive.

The NRC said such an invasion “would profoundly exacerbate the already catastrophic levels of need and the humanitarian emergency for millions of civilians with nowhere left to go.”

The official alleged Hamas had killed three Israeli forces on Sunday, attacking them from Rafah.

The evacuation order came a sat least 22 people lost their lives in the regime’s airstrikes killed in Rafah earlier on Monday.

Rafah’s evacuation “is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas,” the Israeli spokesman added, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement that has been defending Gaza in the face of the war.

The Palestinians have fled there from the ravages of a war that the regime began waging against Gaza on October 7, following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

On Friday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at a truce agreement.

The Israeli premier has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city “with or without” a truce.

Hamas has, however, asserted that the regime has failed to defeat the resistance during the war.

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