The exponential growth in trade and strategic relations between China and the Arab world is highly valued at the League of Arab States and will not come at the expense of relations with the United States, the secretary-general of the League of Arab States said at a press conference here on Friday.

"We value very much our relationship with China," Secretary-General Amre Moussa, told Xinhua. "We can have good relations, growing trade and growing economic investments with China and America at the same time."

China is now the largest exporter to the Arab world, overtaking the United States for the first time since the 1960s. Trade between China and Arab countries jumped from 36.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2004, when the Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum was launched, to 132.8 billion dollars last year.