Historical Exchanges and Future Cooperation Between China and Oman Under the “Belt & Road” Initiative

Abstract

Oman, located at the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, enjoys a geological advantage in history so that it has been the irreplaceable path to maritime routes since the ancient time. Oman and China have started large-scale communications in maritime civilizations through the vast Indian Ocean in Han Dynasty, and the exchanges reached the peak in Tang Dynasty. These exchanges gradually declined with the rise of Western navigation industry. Since the founding of the modern nation-state system, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and Muscat regime in Oman have some conflicts in diplomacy. The relations between two nations, however, began to improve after the mid-1970s, and the formal diplomatic relations was established in 1978. Since then, both countries have enjoyed rapid development in the fields of politics, culture and particularly in economics. China and Oman became important regional economic and trade partners. Whether seen from the perspective of historical contacts or the trend of present economic development, the One Belt and One Road Initiative (OBOR) has providing a golden opportunity for cooperation between China and Oman, at the same time, this initiative has received active response from Oman. In general, China and Oman's cooperation is a typical model in the Middle East, and two countries have made many cooperation achievements under OBOR, such as the China-Oman Industrial Park in Duqm. There are also some investment risks either on micro level or macro level, which require more attention from both government and enterprises of China.