World Insights: Middle East region to continue to "look east," further strengthen cooperation with China

Entering the year 2022, the Middle East region will further stabilize and continue to "look east" to deepen cooperation with China.

In the meantime, the region is still tasked with the three issues -- combating the COVID-19 pandemic, reviving the economy, and maintaining stability.

It is expected that the region will further stabilize in 2022 as relations between Middle Eastern countries have eased and improved, and the forces of various factions will develop in a more balanced direction.

In 2021, interactions between Arab countries and Iran increased. At present, there has been no substantial breakthrough in the improvement of relations, and observers believe that the new year will continue to be affected by factors such as the U.S. policy towards Iran and negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issue.

In 2022, the reconciliation process between Israel and Arab countries may speed up, a process during which Saudi Arabia has an important role to play.

Whether Turkey's relations with Arab countries can be further improved mainly depends on the extent to which Turkey can make compromises and concessions on issues such as relations with Iran, Libya and Syria.

In 2022, the Gulf Cooperation Council countries need to deepen cooperation. Besides, whether Syria can return to the Arab League family deserves attention.

Wang Lincong, deputy director of the Institute of West-Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that Middle Eastern countries feel a growing sense of crisis amid complicated geopolitical relations in the region, and therefore have resumed dialogue and started to mend relations to safeguard their own security.

The changes in regional relations will create conditions for easing tensions between opposing camps in the region and for realizing reconciliation through dialogue, bringing to the Middle East new opportunities and hope in its path towards peace and stability, Wang said.

In the meantime, some challenges remain.

To maintain its hegemony, the United States will try to maintain its influence in the Middle East after the troop withdrawal, which brings many uncertainties to the region.

Moreover, if the United States does not change its tough stance, the prospects for the Iran nuclear talks are hardly optimistic.

Facing challenges, countries in the Middle East have actively promoted pluralistic and independent diplomacy in recent years, including "looking east" to cooperate with China.

In 2022, China and Arab countries will hold the first China-Arab Summit to jointly build a China-Arab community with a shared future for the new era.

Experts believe that in the new year China and Mideast countries will seize opportunities to promote bilateral relations, and continuously enhance people-to-people exchanges and expand practical cooperation.