Ali Al Dhaheri, the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to China, is the UAE’s former governor for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and headed the OPEC’s board of governor in 2014. He holds an honorary doctorate in maritime laws from the University of Tasmania in Australia and an MBA from the South Eastern University, Washington, D.C.

A photo presents the front profile of Ali Al Dhaheri.

Ali Al Dhaheri

The UAE and China are comprehensive strategic partners with high-level exchanges, deepened political mutual trust and bilateral cooperation in various fields. They share similar development paths, philosophies and goals, and together, are a useful reference for developing countries to seek an independent path of modernization development.

Ali Al Dhaheri talks about how to find a balance and win–win results in cross-cultural exchanges and multi-field cooperation between China and the UAE from the perspective of mutual learning among civilizations. As an example of win–win cooperation, he mentions the results from the UAE joining the Belt and Road Initiative and other projects with China. He hopes the bilateral exchanges and cooperation will give vitality to the UAE’s strategic vision for the next 50 years and benefit the common aspirations of both.

CNS: The recent cooperation between China and the UAE has been called “a model of global cooperation in the twenty-first century.” In 2012, the UAE became the first Arab country in the Gulf to establish a strategic partnership with China. In 2018, the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership. When Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, visited China in 2019 as the crown prince of the emirate, he said deepening the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership was the UAE’s diplomatic priority, and it would always be a reliable strategic partner no matter how the international situation changed. Why does the UAE value its relationship with China?

Ali Al Dhaheri: The UAE values China as a friend as we have common goals and shared visions. First, the closeness between the two peoples. Both the nations are ancient and great nations that have made immense contributions to human development and progress. We have great respect for each other’s achievements in history.

Also, the two countries support each other on issues concerning each other’s major interests. In modern history, the Chinese nation and the Arab nation went through a similar fate. China has given unswerving support to the just struggle of the Arab nation. The UAE and China have developed bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect and understanding. The UAE is committed to maintaining regional stability and prosperity, while China is playing an increasingly important role in international affairs. The two countries share the same visions for the future of mankind.

Since the establishment of their diplomatic ties in 1984, the UAE and China have made significant achievements and breakthroughs in their exchanges in many fields including politics, economy, culture and science and technology. At present, the UAE is committed to transforming itself from an oil-based economy to a knowledge-based and innovative economy, and China has leading technologies in new energy, infrastructure, life sciences and artificial intelligence. This is also an important factor for the UAE to attach importance to developing friendly relations with China.

In 2021, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE, we launched “Projects of the 50,” the national development strategy for the next 50 years, and “Operation 300 Billion,” a 10-year comprehensive industrial strategy plan to raise the industrial sector’s contribution to the GDP to AED 300 billion ($81.6 billion) by 2031 from AED 133 billion ($36.2 billion) and build the UAE into a world-class industrial country. These goals have much in common with China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025). These common goals will create abundant opportunities for our cooperation.

CNS: When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the UAE in 2018, he said that although China and the UAE are geographically distant and have different national conditions, their people are both creative and have dreams of their own. Sheikh Mohamed also said that it is not only oil that brings progress but also the efforts of the people. How can China and the UAE learn and benefit from each other?

Ali Al Dhaheri: The people of both countries are hardworking and intelligent. Both the countries have developed from poor and backward ones into strong and prosperous global and regional influencers through their own efforts. The UAE values tolerance, equality, generosity and innovation, which has something in common with many traditional Chinese ideas.

As the representatives of two important civilizations, the UAE and China are both promoters of peaceful coexistence among the countries in the world. The establishment of diplomatic ties between the UAE and Israel in 2020, a symbol of the normalization of relations between the two countries, reflects the UAE’s firm commitment to upholding human values, coexistence and solidarity on the basis of tolerance. China, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has also spared no effort to promote regional and global peace and stability while firmly following the path of peaceful development. On the Middle East issue, China follows the same principle of promoting regional peace, stability and development and safeguarding the interests of the people in the region.

Both the UAE and China are open and free economies, which are complementary in the fields of the economy and trade. China is now the UAE’s largest trading partner, and the UAE is China’s second largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa. The UAE is willing to work with China to deepen economic and trade cooperation to achieve the goal of raising the bilateral trade volume to $200 billion by 2030.

Political equality, mutual trust, economic and trade benefits and historical and cultural exchanges make our exchanges a win–win one.

CNS: The Belt and Road Initiative is a highlight of China-UAE cooperation in recent years. The UAE is one of the first Arab countries to join the initiative. From the ancient Silk Road to the Belt and Road Initiative, why does the Arab world value trade and cultural exchanges with the East? How has the partnership between the UAE and China been strengthened through the Belt and Road?

Ali Al Dhaheri: Arab countries have maintained good trade relations with China since ancient times. The Silk Road, which was opened 2,000 years ago, served as a bridge for exchanges between the Arab world at the western end of Asia and China at the eastern end, bringing them close. In the seventh century, the Maritime Silk Road was opened and Chinese silk and porcelain were sold in the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Europe on this route while Arabian spices and pearls were shipped to China through the Indian Ocean. Through the ancient Silk Road, our ancestors exchanged goods and came to know each other.

China is an ancient civilization with a splendid history. In modern times, China encountered many turbulences, but since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, it has achieved many milestones and is now the world’s second largest economy. As a comprehensive strategic partner of China, the UAE is proud of China’s success and happy to see it make greater achievements. China’s development benefits not only itself, but also brings huge opportunities to the UAE.

As one of the first countries to join the Belt and Road Initiative, the UAE has maintained sound trade and business partnership with China, which is also one of the factors contributing to the outstanding progress made by the UAE in recent years. The close trade and commercial relations have promoted closer cooperation and exchanges in politics, culture, science and technology and many other fields, and deepened the friendship between the two peoples.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was impressed by the mutual support between our countries. The UAE government and people provided China with medical supplies on many occasions. The Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, and other UAE landmarks lit up in the color of the Chinese national flag to show support for Wuhan, where the pandemic was first reported, and the rest of China. In November 2020, a number of government officials, including the vice president of the UAE, were the first to receive shots of Chinese vaccines, and in December 2020, the UAE became the first country to approve Chinese vaccines for marketing.

In the first half of 2021, G42 Healthcare of the UAE and Sinopharm Group of China jointly launched the first COVID-19 vaccine production line in the UAE. The first “made in the UAE” COVID-19 vaccine boosted the UAE’s vaccination program in 205 medical centers across the emirates. On December 27, 2021, the UAE Ministry of Health approved the emergency use of Sinopharm’s novel recombinant protein vaccine. This shows the UAE’s confidence in China’s vaccines. I think the relationship between the UAE and China is a model of state-to-state cooperation.

CNS: How will the multi-faceted cooperation with China, including the Belt and Road Initiative, contribute to the UAE’s development vision for the next 50 years?

Ali Al Dhaheri: On the basis of the 2071 centennial national strategy for the next 50 years we are working to build a more capable government with an emphasis on scientific and technological innovation and education. The goal is to make the UAE one of the best economies in the world and to build a happy and cohesive society.

China is not only the UAE’s largest trading partner; it has also maintained long-term, close cooperation with the UAE in science and technology. In the future, our two countries will inject more impetus in the fields of scientific research, technology and innovation.

For example, the UAE and China have similar ambitions in space exploration. The UAE is the first Arab country to have a space program. China has made remarkable achievements in this field, especially the recent successful space exploration by Chinese astronauts, which shows the country’s increasingly mature technology in manned spaceflight. I think there will be a wide range of space cooperation between the two countries in the future.

There’s another example. The UAE is working with Chinese telecom company Huawei to become the first Arab country to deploy 5G. Our goal is to achieve 100% 5G coverage by 2025. We can also jointly tackle more global challenges, such as climate change, desertification prevention and control, and environmental protection.

Looking ahead to the next 50 years, the UAE is willing to work with China to deepen cooperation in various fields within the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. We are ready to take the Belt and Road cooperation as the core platform and make greater contribution to common prosperity.

(Interviewed by Xiao Xin)