Maintain Regional Security
Build a Harmonious Gulf
By H.E. Mr. Sun Bigan
Chinese Special Envoy for Middle East Affairs
At the Third Gulf Dialogue
Manama, Dec 9th, 2006
Mr. President,
Fellow Colleagues,
First of all, I’d like to express my gratitude to the Bahraini Government and the Institute of International Strategic Studies for providing us a good ambience and an important platform to gather in this beautiful country, exchanging our views frankly on issues concerning regional security of the Gulf. As profound changes undergoing all over the world, the Gulf in especial, these exchanges are only helpful, but also indispensable.
The Gulf enjoys rich oil resources, unique geopolitical position and brilliant traditional cultures, which make this region a focal point of the world politically, economically and culturally. In addition, the Gulf has always been making unique and invaluable contributions to world prosperity and development. It has already become a consensus of the international community that, without stability and prosperity of the region, there is no peace or development of the world at large.
As a sincere friend and partner of mutual beneficial cooperation, China is delighted to witness the great successes the Gulf countries have achieved in maintaining regional security, promoting regional cooperation, developing national economies and making social progress. We also highly appreciate their positive role in promoting world peace and development, progress of human civilization, and safeguarding stable supply of the international energy market.
At the same time, however, we are concerned to see some problems in and beyond the region. Hot-spot issues, like the Palestinian-Israel conflict, dispute on Iran’s nuclear program and bloodletting in Iraq, are still worrying. Terrorism and extremism are frequently active. And some people in the region are still living in poverty. All these problems are making security and stability of the region uncertain. Coordinated endeavor of the international community, including the Gulf countries, is needed to maintain security and stability of the Gulf and to promote development and prosperity of the region.
Mr. President,
Fellow Colleagues,
Facing complicated international and regional situation, we do realize the necessity of building a harmonious Gulf, which enjoys peace, stability and prosperity. A harmonious Gulf is not only in the long-term interests of the Gulf countries and the peoples thereof, but also the common expectation of the international community.
- In order to build a harmonious Gulf, first of all, we must be committed to maintaining security and stability of the region, and adopt a new security concept featuring “promoting mutual trust through dialogue, seeking security through cooperation”. This security concept is China’s basic proposition in solving global security issues, with mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and collaboration as its core. Mutual trust means surmounting differences in ideology and social system and no suspicion or hostility against each other. Mutual benefit refers to respecting each other’s security interest and realizing common security. Equality means all countries, big or small, strong or weak, should respect each other and treat each other as equals. Collaboration means settling conflicts through peaceful negotiations and preventing war and conflict.
- In order to build a harmonious Gulf, we must be committed to seeking settlement of hot-spot issues in the region. Pending a just and sound settlement for a long time, hot-spot issues have brought huge losses and sufferings to the nations in the region, and casted shadow on the regional security. History tells us loud and clearly that war or violence is not the solution to disputes, while dialogue and negotiation can bridge gaps. We believe that just, proper and satisfactory settlement of hot-spot issues will provide an important safeguard for the regional security.
- In order to build a harmonious Gulf, we must be committed to promoting economic and social development of the region. Development is a precondition to eradicate the destabilizing factors of regional security, and an important basis and the guarantee of peace and stability. Sustained peace is impossible without sustained development. We support the Gulf countries to strengthen regional economic cooperation, and to endeavor to set up an open, fair and regulated multilateral trading system, so as to realize mutual benefit and win-win results with other economies. We also support the Gulf countries to choose a model of development that adapts their own historical traditions, cultural characters and development levels. We believe that sustained and sound economic and social development will provide a solid basis for the regional security.
- In order to build a harmonious Gulf, we must be committed to dialogues and exchanges on an equal footing between different civilizations. Regarding relations between different civilizations, we consistently uphold the spirit of openness and inclusiveness. We deem it important to preserve the diversity of the world and various models of development, and to allow civilizations to complement one another through competition and achieve common development by seeking common ground while shelving differences. The Gulf has its own historical, cultural and religious traditions, and, therefore, is different from other parts of the world in terms of social system, value and path of development. We should acknowledge these differences, and respect their rights to choose their social system and path of development on their own, rather than regarding these differences as the roots of problems and disputes in and beyond the region. We believe that, instead of confrontation, estrangement and conflict, dialogue, exchange and coexistence between different civilizations will provide an indispensable environment for the regional security.
To sum up, a harmonious Gulf needs not only restless endeavors of the Gulf countries, but also cooperation of the international community. China is willing to join hand in hand with other countries in maintaining stability and promote development in the region.
Mr. President,
Fellow Colleagues,
There is a long history of friendship between China and the Gulf countries. Two thousand years ago, the Silk Road witnessed our friendly exchanges. The exchanges between Chinese and Islamic civilizations have promoted the development of world civilization. Entering the new age, the relationship between China and the Gulf countries have expanded and intensified, which is, to be frank to each other politically, mutually beneficial economically, to respect one another culturally, and cooperative in security. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between China and the Arab countries. We are ready to open a new chapter of the friendly relationship of cooperation between China and the Gulf countries, on the historical foundation but transcending the past.
