TEHRAN (Iran News) –In recent years, major impartial and fair analysts had claimed that China would soon replace the U.S. as the world economy number one and they have claimed that the U.S. was declining and China would be the world superpower but many people used to laugh at it and even the Chinese themselves had doubt on this prediction but recent developments in the world have made the Chinese more determined to replace the U.S. as world superpower in all fields and not only in the economic sphere.

The Chinese government in recent decades has tried to improve the economy and to have dominance in the world economy to topple the U.S. from the top spot but Beijing has realized that it would not be possible unless it boosts its political influence along with its economic one and for this reason Beijing has adopted new policies to play more influential roles in the world in terms of politics and in recent months Beijing has become a political game changer and it has acted as a mediator between some countries to improve its political influence.

Since the Middle East is an important and crucial region, Beijing has started its political activities and roles from this region and expanded it to Honduras in recent days. The mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia was an outstanding political initiative of Beijing which stunned the world and China has succeeded in bringing Tehran and Riyadh together while for years the U.S. had failed and Israel had been trying to keep the rift between Tehran and Riyadh.

Now it is reported that China is boosting its relation with Saudi Arabia which was once the close ally of Washington. According to reports, the senior officials of Saudi Arabia and China participated in a two-day Arab-China Business Conference in Riyadh, agreeing to advance ties amid changing regional and global dynamics.

Hosted by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the forum aimed to strengthen trade relations between China and Arab countries and marked another significant step towards the end of American monopoly in the Arab world.

It was described as the largest Arab-Chinese business event with more than 3,000 attendees, including governmental officials, traders, investors, and political and economic experts from China and two dozen Arabian countries, who explored mutually beneficial investment opportunities across key economic sectors.

Held in partnership with the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, the Chinese Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce, the 10th Arab-China Business Conference saw officials meeting in different plenary sessions, discussing deals.

The first day of the conference witnessed the signing of 30 investment agreements across various sectors worth $10 billion, including a $5.6 billion agreement between the Kingdom’s Investment Ministry and Human Horizons, a Chinese developer of autonomous driving technologies and manufacturer of electric cars under the HiPhi brand, to establish a joint venture for automotive research, development, manufacturing and sales.

“China is the Arab world’s largest trade partner where the total volume of trade exchange between both sides reached $430 billion in 2022,” Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said at the opening ceremony of the conference.

Chinese business experts said the Arab-China Business Conference will help strengthen economic ties between the world’s second-largest economy and the Arab countries as the world switches from US-dominated unipolar order to multipolar order.

Lin Shunjie, chairman of China International Exhibition Center Group, was quoted as saying that his visit to the Kingdom opened doors of new business opportunities between China and the Arab world, stressing that key strategies should be devised to “encourage Chinese companies to make more investments in the Arab world.”

According to the top Saudi diplomat, China is the largest trading partner for Arab countries, and the volume of trade between the two sides reached over $430bn in 2022, a 31 percent increase from 2021.

Bin Farhan also noted that the theme of the conference “collaborating for prosperity” highlighted the great significance, potential, and common sense that underlies the bilateral investment and trade relations between China and the Arab world.

Rupert Hoogewerf, a researcher who founded the Huron Report, noted that regarding the emergence of new sectors such as renewable energy, fast-growing real estate, and rapid industrialization across the West Asian region, there are huge opportunities for Chinese entrepreneurs.

“There is a lot of ambition to construct new infrastructure here,” he was quoted as saying by Arab News, adding that China has a large number of “young companies that are innovative” and are looking for investment hubs in the region.

On the sidelines of the event, Saudi’s Al-Falih announced his country’s preparedness to serve as China’s gateway to the Arab world as the world’s second-largest economy seeks to elevate trade ties with the region.

Reciprocally, China is in urgent need of energy and resources from Arabian countries in order to continue its economic development. According to official Chinese customs data, China’s crude oil imports from top supplier Saudi Arabia soared 38 percent in April from a year earlier.

These developments, according to experts, have assumed greater significance as the Arab world, which has traditionally served as the bastion of Western powers, is finally coming out of the shadow.

“China’s increases footprints in Arab countries come amid waning American influence in the region and the transition in the world order, which holds a lot of promise for the region and the world,” Hamid Moradi, a regional affairs analyst, told the Press TV website.

He referred to the role played by China in facilitating reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia as proof that China has “shattered the theory of U.S. dominance in the Arab world”.

An article published by the Wilson Center last week pointed to China’s “growing presence in Arab hearts and minds”, saying many Arabs today see China “as a friend”.

It cited a survey from January that said that included 23,000 interviews from respondents in Arab countries and concluded that “China remains more popular than the US”.

“America is history as far as the Arab world is concerned. China has replaced it,” said Moradi.

So we see China has realized it should strengthen its foothold in the Middle East and among countries by boosting its political influence on the countries because the Chinese now know that if they want to become the world power number one, they need political influence and to be a political actor and game changer, and resumption of ties between Tehran and Riyadh shows that China can be a better actor in the world than the U.S. and we will see more coming from China in the future in terms of showing its political influence.