Arab Countries, China Agree to Strengthen Strategic Partnership through Comprehensive Cooperation

The leaders of the Arab countries and China agreed to affirm their common desire to strengthen the strategic partnership based on comprehensive cooperation and common development for a better future, as a model for friendly relations and friendly cooperation.

The leaders also agreed - according to the final statement of the Riyadh-Chinese Arab Summit for Cooperation and Development, which was held on Friday in Riyadh, to work to deepen Arab-Chinese cooperation in various fields, through existing mechanisms within the framework of the Arab-Chinese Cooperation Forum, and to strengthen the role of this forum in boosting development efforts and relations between our countries towards broader horizons.

They emphasized that the Palestinian issue remains a central issue in the Middle East, which requires finding a just and lasting solution to it based on the two-state solution, through ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions. 

The emphasis in this context on the illegality of Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian and Arab lands, the invalidity of Israel's unilateral practices aimed at changing the status quo in Jerusalem, and the emphasis on the need to preserve the historical and legal status of occupied East Jerusalem, and the importance of the role of the historical Hashemite Custodianship over the holy sites Islam and Christianity in Jerusalem in protecting the holy sites and their Arab identity.

They pointed out the need to implement international legitimacy resolutions related to refugees and the protection of Palestinian civilians, calling for an international peace conference with broader participation, more credibility and greater influence, and appreciating the four-point vision put forward by Chinese President Xi Jinping to solve the Palestinian issue, and a series of initiatives and visions put forward by the Chinese on the Palestinian issue.

The two sides affirmed their keenness to push together cooperation in priority areas within the framework of the global development initiative, and to contribute to accelerating the implementation of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development 2030.