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In the autumn of 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched an unprecedented economic initiative called One Belt One Road, abbreviated as Belt & Road. The Arab World is situated in centre of the project, representing a vital passageway between the start in East Asia and the end in Europe and Africa. Whether it is about the ancient (land) Silk Route and (sea) Incense Route or the new scheme, the Arab region will be a natural partner for China, in the first place, and the other relevant countries. In the first 3 years, the figures were promising of the ‘common’ benefits of the plan in terms of the number of the Chinese companies established abroad, the job opportunities created for the beneficiary states and the direct investments in such countries. However, as stated above, ‘common’ benefits deserve to be reflected on. They are not taken for granted as soon as some parties interact with each other. Rather, they constitute a product of effective effort exerted by all of them. Therefore, as these advantages will be more ‘divided’ than ‘common’, the Arab countries will have choice. In other words, they can either be content with the limited gains provided by the natural geographical location as a mere channel for the trade of imports and/or exports between Europe and East Asia, serving as a consumer market for foreign product surplus. Or, they can strive to develop their capabilities to be an active player in the economic dynamism expected to grow through the project’s different tracks. In this case, the gained benefits may be maximized, especially when pan-Arab economic integration is achieved to deal pragmatically and more fruitfully with external economic partners, like China. As a result, the Arabs will have a stronger negotiation power; better employment of the finance and investment mechanisms offered by the project; pushing Beijing to contribute to the transformation of the Arab development patterns by connecting all these Economies; ending the extreme concentration of Arab foreign policies around the West; shifting to the thinking of open and several strategic options about cooperation with main external economic powers; further modeling of the Chinese development experience; and accomplishing integration and consistency between the Arab development strategies and the initiative.
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