China's Growing Ties With the UAE

The China Brief from the Jamestown Foundation examines ties between China and the United Arab Emirates.

Since establishing diplomatic ties on November 1, 1984, the political, economic and trade relations between the UAE and China have evolved significantly in both scale and substance. In recent years, UAE-Sino ties have strengthened with burgeoning trade and investment cooperation. Bilateral trade between the UAE and China recorded an impressive growth of 33 percent in the last eight years reaching $20 billion in 2007. In 2007, China exported goods and services worth nearly $17 billion dollars to the UAE, of which nearly 70 percent were re-exported to other countries in the Middle East, Africa and even Europe (Gulf News, March 30). Per the latest data released by the Dubai Port Authority, trade between Dubai and China increased by 47 percent during 2002 and 2007. In fact, non-oil trade increased by 42 percent ($6.2 billion) in the year 2007.