News Analysis: Chinese president offers development as "new path" to resolve Middle East crises

CAIRO, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Experts say that Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at the Arab League offered development as "a new path" to resolve Middle East crises and promote regional stability.

"The key to overcoming difficulties is to accelerate development," Xi said in his speech at the Arab League Thursday, stressing that turmoil in the Middle East stems from the lack of development, and the ultimate solution will depend on development.

"There are ongoing attempts of polarization now in the international arena and revival of the cold war atmosphere, but China now provides what we can describe as 'a third path' highlighting development as a vast environment to promote regional stability," Ahmed Eliba, a researcher at the Cairo-based Regional Center for Strategic Studies, told Xinhua.

The expert said that China's vision on the Middle East seeks peace and security through development and balanced political relations that are based on mutual interests.

Eliba stressed the significance of the link between development and dialogue as integral parts of the peacemaking process. "Xi offers an important strategic view, just like thinking outside the box, to get the Arab states out of the dark tunnels of conflicts through development," Eliba said.

The Middle East region is suffering conflicts in Palestine, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Iraq that have killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced many others.

"I believe Xi's strategic vision is really important as it could spare the region the cost of lives and funds and provides main points to resolve the ongoing crises," Eliba said.

In his speech at the Cairo-based Arab League, President Xi offered millions of U.S. dollars in assistance to the Arab people suffering conflicts and wars.

He said that China supports the Arab world to solve its problems on its own through development and dialogue, adding that the process of dialogue might be long but will yield most sustainable results.

"There is hope in the Middle East, and all parties should look for it by pursuing dialogue and development," Xi said.

"Xi is trying to convey to the Arab states the Chinese experience of resolving issues through development. According to the Chinese vision, whether the issues are related to economic problems, education, poverty or terrorism, the only guaranteed way to resolve them is through development," said Sobhy Essila, an expert at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

He said that President Xi's remarks aimed at applying the Chinese experience to the Arab world through initiating national development projects that give people hope, dedicate their energy to construction and leave no time for other negative issues such as disputes and terror activities.

Essila sees that Xi's speech at the Arab League provides "a comprehensive Chinese vision" on mutual Chinese-Arab cooperation and proper methods to resolve the Middle East issues.

"Economically, it was clear that Xi had specific initiatives in mind and that China has prepared a lot of projects to invest in the Arab states," the expert told Xinhua.

"If Arab states believe, as China does, that the economic field could strongly affect the political and cultural ones, Arabs will be taking a good path," he said.

The Chinese president arrived in Egypt on Wednesday for a state visit as the second leg of his three-nation Middle East tour.

Mahmoud Allam, former Egyptian ambassador to China, said Xi's visit is "a strong message" that the Chinese leadership attaches great importance to Arab-Chinese ties.

In his speech, Xi called on all conflicting parties to resort to dialogue and political settlement.

"The international community should respect the will and role of those directly involved, the neighboring countries and regional organizations, instead of imposing a solution from the outside," Xi said.

"Xi's speech shows China's keenness on achieving security and stability in the Arab world and on the non-interference of foreign powers in the interests of Arab states," Allam said.

The former ambassador added that Arab states, through their experiences with other big powers, see China as "one of the most reliable states" that they can trust and with whom they can cooperate.

Allam hailed Xi's focus on development as a strategy for resolving Middle East problems, urging Arabs to view the Chinese experience as proof that development is "the proper key to resolving many issues."

"We should admit that many of the ongoing issues in the Arab world were the result of lacking successful development models that rally people behind their leaders," he said.

"Development is a means of mobilizing people toward achieving common interests and overcoming disagreements," Allam said.