Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Thursday announced billions of US dollars in special loans and investments in the Middle East as Beijing seeks to boost its economic ties and clout in the region.
Xi offered China’s financial support in an address to the Cairo-based Arab League after holding talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi during his first tour to the Middle East as president.
Xi arrived in Cairo late on Wednesday from Saudi Arabia and yesterday was to travel to Iran, the last leg of his three-nation tour.
Xi offered US$55 billion in loans and investments to the Middle East.
“China will offer US$15 billion as special loans for industrial projects in the Middle East,” he told the Arab League.
Another US$10 billion would be provided as commercial loans to boost cooperation in the energy sector and an equivalent amount is to be offered as preferential loans, he said.
Xi also announced the establishment of a common investment fund worth US$20 billion for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Beijing has long taken a backseat to other diplomatic players in the Middle East, but analysts say that the region is crucial to Xi’s signature foreign policy initiative — known as “One Belt, One Road” — touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes.
China, the world’s second-largest economy, also relies heavily on oil and gas imported from the energy-rich Middle East.
“We are not setting up proxies or building a sphere of influence in the region,” Xi told the Arab League.
Xi signed a slew of separate agreements with Cairo to undertake projects in sectors like electricity, transportation and infrastructure.
“The total investments in these projects would be US$15 billion. These projects will offer a new impetus to the economic development of Egypt,” he said in a joint statement with al-Sisi.
Al-Sisi said the agreements were the “best evidence of the two countries’ determination to improve their levels of cooperation.”
In an article in state-run newspaper al-Ahram ahead of his visit, Xi expressed China’s backing for Egypt running its affairs without outside interference.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS