At a press conference at Damascus, a Chinese diplomat expressed Beijing’s desire to expand the cooperation with Arabic countries. Sun Bigan, the government’s Middle East special envoy, told journalists that China has a friendly strategic cooperative relationship with Arabic countries. On issues such as Taiwan, Tibet, and human rights, Arabs have given “precious” supports, while China reciprocates by backing their sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national rights. In 2007, the bilateral trade amounted to 86.4 billion USD. Sun added that Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will lead a delegation to the Second Ministerial Meeting of Sino-Arabic Cooperation Forum to be held in Bahrain in May.
Source: Xinhua, March 27, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/27/content_7871633.htm