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BEIJING: Chinese leaders yesterday emphasised the country's Islamic heritage and Silk Route legacy to enhance its ties with the Arab world as a four-day China Arab States Expo opened in Yinchuan city yesterday.
About 7,000 Arab leaders and businessmen attended the expo and conferences held on its sidelines.
China also used the opportunity to push for a bigger role in fixing prices of oil.
"We should also step up dialogue in the energy area and play a bigger role in stabilising international energy prices and ensuring energy supply safety," the country's top political adviser Yu Zhengsheng said at the inauguration ceremony.
The expo is actually a series of programmes pushing for collaboration between China and the Arab world in a range of areas including cultural co-operation, a World Muslim Travel Business Congress, publishing, tourism, business connectivity between small and medium enterprises and a China-Arab States agricultural co-operation summit.
This is besides match-making meetings and conferences for major companies in energy, finance and industrial goods sectors.
A band of Hui Muslim dancers also performed at the inauguration.
The four-day festival reflects China's desire to connect its vast Muslim community with the Arab world.
Visitors and delegates are also being encouraged to visit mosques in Yinchuan and other parts of the Ningxia province, where the city is located.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials held talks with opposition leaders from Syria on Friday and received King Abdullah II of Jordan on Saturday.
Chinese experts claimed in discussions over state television that the new moves showed Beijing was closely connected with different sections of the Arab world, and was playing an important role in the Muslim world.
One of the lesser known aspects of China is that it has an Islamic history dating back several centuries, and Hui Muslims are spread across several Chinese provinces including Ningxia and Gansu. China has also Kazakh, Uzbek and Tibetan Muslims besides the Uyghurs in Xinjiang region.
Beijing wants to connect the peace-loving Hui community with the Arab world and remains undeterred by riots and violent attacks by separatist sections Uyghurs of Xinjiang region.
Plans include establishing a Hui Merchants Chamber of Commerce to connect with the Muslim world.
The expo and conference saw 100 business executives from Arab countries discussing different aspects of co-operation with Chinese businessmen in areas like textiles, cashmere, Muslim products, photovoltaic and new energy industries, e-commerce and logistics.
Gulf Daily News » Local News » China's Islamic heritage put on display...
About 7,000 Arab leaders and businessmen attended the expo and conferences held on its sidelines.
China also used the opportunity to push for a bigger role in fixing prices of oil.
"We should also step up dialogue in the energy area and play a bigger role in stabilising international energy prices and ensuring energy supply safety," the country's top political adviser Yu Zhengsheng said at the inauguration ceremony.
The expo is actually a series of programmes pushing for collaboration between China and the Arab world in a range of areas including cultural co-operation, a World Muslim Travel Business Congress, publishing, tourism, business connectivity between small and medium enterprises and a China-Arab States agricultural co-operation summit.
This is besides match-making meetings and conferences for major companies in energy, finance and industrial goods sectors.
A band of Hui Muslim dancers also performed at the inauguration.
The four-day festival reflects China's desire to connect its vast Muslim community with the Arab world.
Visitors and delegates are also being encouraged to visit mosques in Yinchuan and other parts of the Ningxia province, where the city is located.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials held talks with opposition leaders from Syria on Friday and received King Abdullah II of Jordan on Saturday.
Chinese experts claimed in discussions over state television that the new moves showed Beijing was closely connected with different sections of the Arab world, and was playing an important role in the Muslim world.
One of the lesser known aspects of China is that it has an Islamic history dating back several centuries, and Hui Muslims are spread across several Chinese provinces including Ningxia and Gansu. China has also Kazakh, Uzbek and Tibetan Muslims besides the Uyghurs in Xinjiang region.
Beijing wants to connect the peace-loving Hui community with the Arab world and remains undeterred by riots and violent attacks by separatist sections Uyghurs of Xinjiang region.
Plans include establishing a Hui Merchants Chamber of Commerce to connect with the Muslim world.
The expo and conference saw 100 business executives from Arab countries discussing different aspects of co-operation with Chinese businessmen in areas like textiles, cashmere, Muslim products, photovoltaic and new energy industries, e-commerce and logistics.
Gulf Daily News » Local News » China's Islamic heritage put on display...