This article appears in the Jerusalem Post, 7 December 2022
China’s
President Xi Jinping has flown to Saudi Arabia to host a Chinese-Arab summit
there on December 9. The visit had been on
the stocks for some time. Xi was first invited
to Riyadh back in March. The long delay
– during which Xi succeeded in consolidating his long-term future as China’s
president –gave the Saudis time to prepare a spectacular welcome intended to reinforce
the image of China as a firm ally of Saudi Arabia, and consolidate the
excellent ties that already existed between Beijing and Riyadh.
The
extravagant welcome prepared for the Chinese leader, which included the
hoisting of thousands of Chinese banners, was in stark contrast to the low key
reception granted US President Joe Biden in June. Given Biden’s often expressed refusal to
exonerate Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) from responsibility for the
brutal murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, relations between the two
countries remained strained throughout the president’s visit.
As for the state visit by Xi, invitations to attend the
Chinese-Arab summit went out to leaders throughout the Middle East and North
Africa. The Chinese delegation signed dozens of agreements and memoranda of
understanding with Gulf nations and other Arab states covering a variety of
areas including energy, security and investments.
The US regards China as
its prime competitor for influence and profit in the Middle East. In 2017 Saudi King Salman signed a $65
billion-worth of memoranda of understanding with China. The two countries immediately began
implementing agreements in sectors such as petrochemicals and high technology. Today China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading
partner worldwide, while Saudi Arabia is China’s largest trading partner in the
region.
The ambitious Saudi
Vision 2030 development program, designed to transform the kingdom into a
modern thrusting industrialized nation no longer dependent on oil revenues, has
provided Chinese construction firms with the major opportunity of developing
Saudi infrastructure. During his stay XI
visited the planned megacity of Neom on the western Saudi coast, a key element
of MBS’s Vision 2030.
China has a thriving
relationship also with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the UAE’s largest
trading partner, and an essential component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI).
Introduced
in 2013, and heavily promoted subsequently by President Xi, the BRI is his
blueprint for China’s eventual political and economic dominance. The “belt” refers to reinvigorating the
historic Silk Road trade route connecting East and West, while the “road”
relates to constructing a 21st century Maritime Silk Road.
Belt and Road is the
centrepiece of Xi’s foreign policy. It involves China investing roughly $150 billion
a year in the 68 countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East that have
signed up to the scheme. Some describe BRI
as one of the largest infrastructure and investment projects in history,
covering 65 percent of the world’s population; others consider it a plan
for Chinese world domination through the creation of a China-centered
global trading network.
Egypt features in
Chinese strategic thinking. As China’s
commercial activities in the Middle East mushroomed, it grew increasingly
concerned with transit through the Suez Canal. As a result it has invested billions of
dollars in Egypt, and Chinese firms are helping construct Egypt’s new
administrative capital in the desert outside Cairo. They are also developing a
Red Sea port and industrial zone in Ain Sokhna.
Then there is Israel
which, of course, will not be participating in the Chinese-Arab summit, although it is
a key element in China’s overall Middle East policy. Israeli-Chinese relations have been excellent
for decades – sometimes too
close for US comfort. Finally Washington
put a definitive end to Israeli cooperation on military technology with US
roots. Instead, Israel developed close commercial
relationships with China in areas like advanced technology and infrastructure. Today
Chinese firms are deeply engaged in Israeli infrastructure, building tunnels
for light rail, expanding port facilities in Ashdod and Haifa, and striking
agreements to operate the ports for 25 years. There is also talk of a
China-Israel Free Trade Agreement in the offing. Over the twenty years from 2001, annual
bilateral trade between Israel and China has increased from $1.07 billion to
$22.8 billion in 2021. This close collaboration remains unpalatable to some in
the US Senate.
The US and the UK regard
China’s expanding global influence as of great concern. In November 2020 the US Secretary of State’s
office published a 72-page document called: “The Elements of the China
Challenge”. Amid seven examples of what
the authors call China’s “quest for preeminence in world affairs”, they cite
the Belt and Road initiative. The idea,
they believe, is to expand foreign markets for Chinese companies, thus drawing
nations, and particularly their political and economic elites, into Beijing’s
geopolitical orbit. Sometimes BRI projects involve 50- to 100-year
relationships that confer power long-term to China over key parts of the host
country’s infrastructure.
On December 1, 2020, in his first public address since becoming chief of MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service made famous in the James Bond films, Richard Moore declared that China was the agency’s “single greatest priority”.
With his leadership role now firmly secured, Xi clearly feels empowered to continue developing his long-term strategy aimed at ensuring eventual Chinese political and economic dominance on the world stage. He doubtless regarded the Chinese-Arab summit as a key building block in that enterprise.
Published in the Jerusalem Post, 7 December 2022:https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-724212
No comments:
Post a Comment