Under the drastic changes in the Middle East, Arab countries have collectively turned their eyes to the far East. What did they find?
At the regular press conference of the Ministry of National Defense a few days ago, a reporter said that China is holding a seminar for senior military officers from China and Arab countries, and asked how the seminar will be held and whether it will be held in the future. Senior Colonel Wu Qian, director of the Information Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense and spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, responded that the theme of the seminar was "Future-oriented China-Arab Security Cooperation", which aimed to implement the results of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and deepen China-Arab national defense cooperation, and was attended by senior military officers from 13 Arab countries. He also stressed that the Chinese armed forces are willing to work with the armed forces of Arab countries to jointly implement the Global Security Initiative and expand exchanges between services and arms.
Against the backdrop of the current drastic changes in the Middle East situation, the delegation of senior Middle Eastern military officers to China is undoubtedly a matter of great concern to the international community. Why?
So far, the chaos in the Middle East, which has lasted for nearly nine months, has shown a tendency to intensify. Israel has already made moves against Lebanon, with Defense Minister Gallant threatening to send Lebanon back to the "Stone Age" – perhaps he thinks he has a sense of humor. In view of the current situation, unless the Security Council authorizes the armed intervention of the countries concerned, the only way to stop Israel's madness is to restrain it with a heavy hand. However, the US side has not fully implemented the matter of restraining Israel.
Previously, some media people pointed out that the 1.6 million troops of the 22 countries of the Arab League were ready to attack the 450,000 Israeli troops. However, regardless of whether this statement is true or not, even if the 1.6 million heroes of the Arab League are really preparing for war, can they stop Israel?
My view is that it is difficult to say, although the Arab army is luxuriously equipped, but the actual combat effectiveness is not very strong, the performance in the Yemeni civil war speaks for itself, and let's not forget that Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. Moreover, for many years, with the exception of a few countries such as Palestine and Lebanon, the relations between the vast majority of Arab countries and Israel have not been particularly bad, but have remained in a state of imminent separation.
Therefore, for Arab countries, whether to attack Israel by force at the moment is secondary, and the most important thing is how to balance the external strategic environment in the context of the United States is no longer reliable and the security environment is taking a sharp turn for the worse. They needed to find a new partner, so they looked to the far east.
Since the 80s of the last century, Arab countries have spent huge sums of money to purchase various types of advanced equipment from China for a long time, and whether it is used well or not is another matter, at least it has established a good foundation for defense cooperation between China and the Arab League. The holding of the seminar for senior military officers from China-Arab countries has sent a clear signal to the Arab League that it has begun to explore cooperation with China. It is for this reason that the media will pay special attention to whether the course will be held in the future.
For a long time, Arab countries have been regarded as forbidden by the United States and the West because of their large resources. However, in the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the performance of the United States and the West has really disappointed the Arab countries, in contrast, China has been trying to find ways to ease the situation in the Middle East, and in fact, soon after the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Israel called on China to support itself. But it is clear that what Israel wants, China chooses to remain fair and does not give.
It is precisely for this reason that Arab countries, having clearly seen the hypocritical nature of the United States and the West and China's positive and just position, have resolutely begun to embrace China.