Xinhua News Agency, Riyadh, January 6 Special Feature | Cultural Exchanges and "Smart Manufacturing Going Global" Boost Cooperation between China and Gulf Countries

Xinhua News Agency reporters Wang Haizhou and Xia Xiao

Over the past year, China's exchanges and cooperation with the six Gulf countries have been deepening in both people-to-people exchanges and industrial implementation. Cultural exchange activities led by the "China-Saudi Arabia Cultural Year" have promoted more active and closer human interaction, bringing people's hearts closer together. New productive factors such as artificial intelligence (AI) developed by China have accelerated their entry into the Gulf market, further expanding the areas of cooperation. Under the "dual-wheel drive", China and the Gulf countries continue to deepen pragmatic cooperation, writing a new chapter of friendship in their joint development.

Cultural exchanges strengthen the humanistic foundation

In early 2025, the Chinese Embassy in Saudi Arabia held a "Spring Festival Fair" in Riyadh, marking the dazzling opening of the first "China-Saudi Arabia Cultural Year". Subsequently, the two countries launched a series of exhibition and exchange activities around the Cultural Year: promotional events themed on the intangible cultural heritage skills of China's ethnic minorities and tea culture were held in Saudi Arabia, and national museums of China and Saudi Arabia held related themed exhibitions respectively; the opera "Carmen" rehearsed by the China National Opera House and the choral concert held by the National Grand Theatre were staged in Saudi Arabia in rotation; the Saudi Tourism Authority held an immersive experience event in Shanghai, attracting many tourists to take photos and interact.

Looking back on the activities of the "China-Saudi Arabia Cultural Year" over the past year, the core keywords are mutual learning of civilizations, people-to-people connectivity, and mutual pursuit. Over 60 events throughout the year have facilitated deeper exchanges and mutual learning between the two major civilizations of China and Saudi Arabia, and have brought the peoples of the two countries closer to each other. This has laid a more warm and powerful humanistic foundation for the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to move steadily and further.

In the Gulf region, events such as the Sino-Qatari Calligraphy Exchange Exhibition and the First Qatar Chinese Film Festival have been successively held at Qatar's largest cultural park, the Qatar Cultural Village. Countries like Kuwait and Oman have also held "International Chinese Language Day" activities, continuously sparking the interest of the people in the Gulf countries in Chinese culture.

The Chinese animated film "Nezha: The Legend of the Neon God" (also known as "Nezha 2") will be released in the Gulf countries during the summer of 2025. Malik Najjar, the dubbing director for the Arabic version of "Nezha 2" and a renowned Saudi animation director, believes that Chinese animation presents Chinese cultural elements to the world with mature production, evoking resonance across borders. China has achieved a parallel progress in both cultural "going global" and technological "going global".

"Smart Manufacturing Going Global" Promotes Mutual Benefits and Win-Win Cooperation

Cultural exchanges bring people closer, while "smart manufacturing going global" promotes mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. "Putting technology on the streets" has become a new highlight of cooperation in 2025. In the field of autonomous driving, WEYOUNZ, a Chinese autonomous driving technology company, entered the Saudi market and launched the country's first pilot operation service of driverless taxis in Riyadh. Industry observers believe that the Gulf countries have a strong demand for smart travel, but data compliance, operational licensing, and infrastructure coordination remain key thresholds for implementation.

In the United Arab Emirates, approximately 300 Chinese technology enterprises participated in the 45th Gulf Information Technology Exhibition held in Dubai, showcasing achievements in AI, IoT, digital governance, and other fields; flying cars, multi-modal biometric identification devices, and other technologies became the focus. Zhao Deli, founder of XPeng Aerospeed, stated that the Middle East market has a strong interest in Chinese technology products, and the regional transformation trend has created opportunities for Chinese enterprises to expand overseas. The relevant person in charge of GAC High-Speed, a low-altitude travel technology enterprise under the GAC Group, believes that China's low-altitude economic industry is developing rapidly, and platforms such as the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition are becoming important windows for Chinese enterprises to showcase their "smart manufacturing" capabilities.

In the field of green transformation, "new energy + energy storage + manufacturing" has become a new growth point for cooperation. BYD signed an energy storage project contract with Saudi Electricity Company, and Chinese photovoltaic enterprises such as Longi Green Energy have been accelerating their cooperation with Gulf countries such as the United Arab Emirates.

Saleh Habti, Chairman of the China Region of Saudi International Power and Water Company, said, "China's tremendous efforts in the field of renewable energy have promoted the popularization of wind energy, solar energy, hydropower, etc., benefiting numerous countries and driving the development of related industries."

Looking forward to continuing to write a new chapter of friendship

In 2025, China and the Gulf countries signaled stronger cooperation in multilateral mechanisms and cross-regional collaboration. In May 2025, the ASEAN-China-Gulf Cooperation Council Summit held in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, adopted a joint statement emphasizing the strengthening of cooperation in economic and trade investment, supply chains, and connectivity. The summit also expressed willingness to cooperate in future-oriented industries, energy transformation, and other directions.

When meeting with Wang Yi, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister, in Riyadh in December 2025, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Al-Baidawi stated that the GCC countries share a profound friendship with China, and China has always been a trustworthy and reliable strategic partner. The relations between the Gulf and China have maintained a high level of operation. The Gulf side is willing to reach a free trade agreement between the Gulf and China at an early date, and is full of expectations for the second China-Arab States Summit and the China-Gulf Summit to be held in China in 2026. It is also willing to strengthen communication with China to promote the summit to achieve more results.

From promoting people-to-people connectivity through the Cultural Year, to tightening the connection between innovation chains and industrial chains through "smart manufacturing" cooperation, and to continuously strengthening institutional cooperation, China's cooperation with the Gulf countries is interpreting "friendship" and "mutual benefit" in a more specific and sustainable way.

Public opinion in the Gulf countries generally anticipates that, under the guidance of high-level politics and within the framework of multilateral mechanisms, the Gulf countries and China will continuously expand areas of cooperation through mutual learning and continue to write a new chapter of friendship in their joint development. (Participating reporters: Wen Xinnian, Yin Xuan, Wang Qiang, Luo Chen)

Editor: Wang Siyang