习近平2018年阿联酋之旅——全面筑牢中阿友谊之路 Xi's trip cemented China-UAE relations

Shaojin Chai recalled the buzz surrounding preparations for a series of welcoming events in the United Arab Emirates just before President Xi Jinping's visit to the country in 2018.

柴绍锦至今难忘2018年迎接习近平主席访问阿拉伯联合酋长国的一系列活动。

Chai, an assistant professor in the department of international relations at the University of Sharjah in the UAE, had been asked by some Emirati cultural and news institutions to take part in their events, including a cultural event to be attended by Xi's wife, Peng Liyuan.

柴绍锦是阿联酋沙迦大学国际关系系助理教授，曾受阿联酋文化和新闻机构邀请，参加他们组织的活动，包括习近平主席夫人彭丽媛出席的文化活动。

"Everybody was excited," Chai said. "It was the first time since (1989) that (a Chinese) head of state had visited the UAE," he said, referring to the December 1989 visit by then president Yang Shangkun. The visit was reciprocated in 1990 when the UAE's late founding father, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, visited China, six years after diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in November 1984.

柴绍锦说：“所有人都很激动。这是1989年以来，中国国家元首首次访问阿联酋。”中国和阿联酋于1984年11月建交。1989年12月，时任中国国家主席杨尚昆访问阿联酋。1990年，阿联酋已故总统谢赫·扎耶德·本·苏丹·阿勒纳哈扬访问中国。

Relations between China and the UAE have been greatly promoted since Xi's visit, analysts say.

分析人士认为，习近平访问阿联酋极大推动了两国关系的发展。

To have the leader of a great power visit the UAE "is significant for the UAE, both strategically and symbolically", Chai said.

柴绍锦也认为，一个大国领导人的到访本身“对阿联酋就具有战略意义和象征意义”。

Du Wei, the Chinese director at the Confucius Institute at Zayed University, said Xi's visit boosted collaboration in education between China and the UAE, especially since the UAE government was set to launch a Chinese-language program in 100 public schools.

而对于扎耶德大学孔子学院中方院长杜伟来说，习近平的访问推进了中国和阿联酋之间的教育合作，阿联酋政府将在100所公立学校启动中文教学项目。

Xi's visit "promoted, facilitated and also made" the launch of the Chinese-language program official, Du said.

用杜伟的话讲，习主席的访问“推动、促进、促成”了中文教学项目的正式启动。

"Traditionally, people here think that the Chinese language is difficult to learn," said Du, who expressed regret over missing Xi's visit because she was accompanying Emirati students on a 20-day study visit to China at the time.

“过去，阿联酋人认为学中文是很难的。” 杜伟说，当时她正带领阿联酋学生在中国进行为期20天的参观考察，因此错过了习主席的访问，对此她表示非常遗憾。

"Since (Xi's) visit, people feel there's a need to study the language. They are more interested in understanding China."

“习主席访问阿联酋后，这里的人们开始觉得有必要学习中文。他们对中国更感兴趣了。”

Du said she was among the team of specialists who produced an initial study on introducing Chinese-language programs in collaboration with the UAE's Ministry of Education. She selected and interviewed 20 teachers to start the program, she said. It developed quickly and is now available in 141 public schools.

杜伟称，阿联酋教育部与她所在的专家团队合作开展引入中文教学项目的初步研究。为了启动该项目，她挑选并采访了20名教师。该项目进展迅速，目前已在141所公立学校推广。

During Xi's visit, China and the UAE signed several deals, covering energy, finance, agriculture and e-commerce, including approval of the first Chinese State-owned financial services company being set up in Abu Dhabi.

在习近平访问阿联酋期间，中国和阿联酋签署了多项协议，涵盖能源、金融、农业和电子商务领域，包括批准在阿布扎比设立第一家中国金融服务公司。

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Co and the China National Petroleum Corp also agreed to explore joint business opportunities at that time.

阿联酋阿布扎比国家石油公司和中国石油天然气集团公司当时也就探索商业合作取得了共识。

Today, with both countries also dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE embassy in Beijing said the annual value of bilateral trade between China and the UAE has reached $50 billion and is on track to increase to $200 billion by 2030.

如今，在共同抗击新冠疫情的背景下，阿联酋驻华大使馆表示，中国和阿联酋的双边年度贸易额已达到500亿美元，并有望在2030年增加到2000亿美元。

"In fact, let's say that what we saw afterward proved that the visit was a base line for trust and cooperation that came after, and was very important for this partnership, especially on science," said Rasha Al Joundy, a Gulf expert and senior researcher at the Dubai Public Policy Research Centre.

迪拜公共政策研究中心海湾问题专家兼高级研究员拉沙·阿隆迪称：“事实上，后来证明，这次访问是两国随后建立互信合作的基础，对两国的伙伴关系至关重要，尤其是在科学领域。”

"China and the UAE have cooperated intensely to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the UAE has hosted the clinical trials for Sinopharm, and it has manufactured Sinopharm (vaccines). … The UAE had the highest rate of vaccination because of that."

“中国和阿联酋在抗击新冠疫情方面进行了密切合作。事实上，中国国药集团开发的新冠疫苗在阿联酋开展了临床试验，并在阿联酋进行生产……因此，阿联酋的新冠疫苗接种率处于世界前列。”

In December 2020, the UAE was the first country to approve emergency public use of Sinopharm-developed COVID-19 vaccines. In March last year, the UAE announced that it would start making those vaccines locally as part of a joint venture between the Chinese pharmaceutical company and an Abu Dhabi enterprise.

2020年12月，阿联酋成为第一个批准紧急使用国药新冠疫苗的国家。去年3月，阿联酋宣布，国药集团和阿布扎比一家企业开展合作，在当地生产疫苗。

The collaboration between China and the UAE facilitated a vaccination program for low-income countries, especially in Africa, proving that bilateral relations were not affected during the pandemic and that trade in other sectors also continued, Al Joundy said.

阿隆迪称，中国和阿联酋的合作推动了低收入国家，特别是非洲国家的疫苗接种计划，证明中阿双边关系没有受到疫情影响，其他领域贸易也在继续。

"There were no shortages of any product coming to the UAE from China whatsoever during the pandemic," she said, adding that the increased mutual trust generated during Xi's visit became crucial, given the issue of food security today.

阿隆迪称，疫情期间，中国出口阿联酋的产品没有出现任何短缺。考虑到如今的粮食安全问题，习近平访问阿联酋增进两国互信的意义变得至关重要。

Ebrahim Hashem, former adviser to the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office, an authority responsible for Abu Dhabi's long-term strategies, and Asia Global fellow at the Asia Global Institute at the University of Hong Kong, said Xi's "critically important" visit in 2018 helped upgrade the relationship between the UAE and China from "strategic partnership to comprehensive strategic partnership".

阿布扎比执行办公室主席前顾问、香港大学亚洲全球研究所亚洲全球研究员易卜拉欣·哈希姆称，习近平在2018年对阿联酋进行的"极其重要"的访问推动将中阿关系从"战略伙伴关系"升级为"全面战略伙伴关系"。该机构是负责阿布扎比长期战略的机构。

Awareness of China and its civilization and culture has greatly improved since Xi's visit, Hashem said. Before the visit, everybody "was talking about the West and I was talking about China", he said.

哈希姆称，自习近平访问以来，人们对中国以及这个国家的文明和文化的认识有了很大提高。他说，在习近平访问阿联酋之前，每个人“都在谈论西方，而我在谈论中国”。

"But after that visit a major paradigm shift happened in the minds of a lot of Emiratis. In my opinion, there are almost no limits on the potential of this relationship," Hashem said.

哈希姆说：“但在那次访问之后，许多酋长国的思想发生了重大转变。在我看来，两国关系的潜力几乎是无限的。”

"The oil (sector's contribution to) GDP is less than 30 percent. The non-oil (contribution to GDP) is above 70 percent, but we have our long-term vision, and we see major synergies between our long-term vision and the Belt and Road Initiative," he added.

他还称：“我们的长期愿景与'一带一路'倡议很契合。”

In April, the UAE's Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Center said the country's non-oil sector contribution to GDP amounted to 72.3 percent last year, up from 71.3 percent in 2020.

根据阿联酋联邦竞争力和统计中心4月给出的数据，去年该国非石油行业对GDP的贡献达72.3%，高于2020年的71.3%。

Hotels and restaurants contributed 21.3 percent, wholesale and retail 14.1 percent and health and social services sector 13.8 percent, it said.

其中，酒店和餐饮业占21.3%，批发和零售业占14.1%，卫生和社会服务业占13.8%。

"We want to have a larger contribution from the manufacturing sector to our GDP," Hashem said. "We're interested in technology. There's huge collaboration now between us and China in the area of technology (and) in the digital economy.

哈希姆称：“我们希望制造业能对GDP做出更大贡献。我们对技术感兴趣，如今我们和中国在技术（和）数字经济领域有着大量合作。”

"Renewables is another area, (as are) digital technology, digital economy and, of course, security. There is a deeper discussion when it comes to security, but it's one area that may actually take some time to develop and evolve."

“另外还有可再生能源领域，当然还有安全领域。”

来源：中国日报

编辑：董静

记者：JAN YUMUL