After $18 trillion debt.. China forward to Gulf states

The launch of a free trade zone between China and the Gulf states, as soon as possible, topped the talks between Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Gang and his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, during a phone call in early February.

Belt and Road Initiative

Gulf countries are part of the Belt and Road Initiative, which includes 147 countries that represent two-thirds of the world's population and contribute about 40 percent of global gross domestic product, according to data from the China Council on Foreign Relations.

Strategic partnership

A new strategic partnership will be established between China and the GCC countries, which will benefit from China's expertise to diversify their economies.

On the other hand, Beijing benefits from the infrastructure network in which the Gulf countries have invested in order to enter the rest of the region

Strategic partner

During the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Saudi Arabia late last year, China's position as a strategic partner in accelerating development in the Kingdom was emphasized by strengthening the alignment between the Belt and Road Initiative launched by the Chinese President in 2013 and the Kingdom's Vision 2030.

Chinese economy

This coincided with the International Monetary Fund raising expectations for the growth of the Chinese economy from 4.4 percent to 5.2 percent for the year 2023, after recording last year its worst performance in 46 years due to the closure measures adopted by Beijing to combat the Corona pandemic.

Indebtedness of the Chinese economy

It seems clear that China is determined to take advantage of the opportunities and move forward with its expansion plans despite the crises it is suffering from in the real estate sector and the challenges it faces to raise the performance of its economy.

  Concerns about the growing indebtedness of the Chinese economy, which exceeded $18 trillion in 2022, began to loom on the horizon.